Musa riperti

Musa riperti A. J. B. Chevalier, Expl. Bot. Afr. Occ. Franç. 1: 632 (1920).

Accepted name none - nomen nudum
Synonyms
Authorities That there is no accepted name is from Baker & Simmonds 1953 as corrected (please follow link below).

The World Checklist of Monocotyledons does not list Musa riperti.

Section
Distribution
Description
References Baker & Simmonds 1953 : 409 & 574, Champion 1967 : 42, Cheesman 1947 : 103, Hepper 1968 : 69, Hutchinson & Dalziel 1936 : 328.
Comments As the result of a mistake by Hutchinson and Dalziel 1936 the story of Musa riperti is a somewhat confusing one.

Cheesman 1947 citing Hutchinson & Dalziel 1936 gives Musa riperti as a synonym of Musa schweinfurthii K. M. Schumann & O. Warburg ex K. M. Schumann (sometimes abbreviated to Musa schweinfurthii K. M. Schumann) from which he created a new combination, Ensete schweinfurthii (K. M. Schumann & O. Warburg) E. E. Cheesman. Baker and Simmonds 1953 (as corrected) then reduced Ensete schweinfurthii to a synonym of Ensete ventricosum which might appear to bring Musa riperti into synonymy with Ensete ventricosum were it not for the fact that at the same time Baker & Simmonds rejected the name Musa riperti as being nomen nudum. However, the Musa schweinfurthii of Hutchinson & Dalziel 1936 is not the same thing as Musa schweinfurthii K. M. Schumann. Musa schweinfurthii of Hutchinson & Dalziel 1936 was reduced to a synonym of Ensete gilletii by Hepper 1968 who at the same time accepted Baker and Simmonds' rejection of Musa riperti as being nomen nudum.

Thus by association with Musa schweinfurthii, a very confusing entity, Musa riperti came to be associated with Ensete ventricosum on the one hand and with Ensete gilletii on the other.

Champion 1967 says that Musa riperti is "probably" Ensete gilletii but I do think he is correct in this matter.

Baker & Simmonds (Kew Bulletin 8 (3): 405 - 416 (1953)) review of the genus Ensete in Africa radically reduced the number of species either rejecting or reducing to synonyms most of Cheesman's African Ensete. Baker and Simmonds' original paper seemed to reduce Ensete ventricosum to a synonym of Ensete edule and establish that species as the principal Ensete of Africa. However, when it was noticed that, via Musa ventricosa, Ensete ventricosum took priority over Ensete edule by three years a substantial correction appeared in the following issue of Kew Bulletin. This correction (Kew Bulletin 8 (4): 574 (1953)) reduced Ensete edule to a synonym of Ensete ventricosum.

Images:

There are three external images of the type of Musa riperti at the Aluka website http://www.aluka.org

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last updated 22/09/2008