Musa thomsonii

Musa thomsonii (G. King ex K. M. Schumann) A. M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan. The Trees of Northern Bengal, Including Shrubs, Woody Climbers, Bamboos, Palms and Tree Ferns. Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, Calcutta. 1929.

Accepted name	Musa thomsonii (G. King ex K. M. Schumann) A. M. Cowan & J. M. Cowan. The Trees of Northern Bengal, Including Shrubs, Woody Climbers, Bamboos, Palms and Tree Ferns. Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, Calcutta. 1929. (republished 1993 by Parshant Gahlot for Allied Book Center. Dehradun, India. ISBN 81 7081 188 4) or Musa flaviflora N. W. Simmonds, Kew Bulletin 11 (3): 471 (1956).
Synonyms	Musa paradisiaca subsp. seminifera var. thomsonii G. King ex K. M. Schumann
Authorities	Accepted name and synonymy according to Noltie. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons gives Musa thomsonii (King ex Baker) Cowan, Trees N. Bengal: 135 (1929) as a synonym of Musa x sapientum f. thomsonii King ex Baker, Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 7: 214 (1893), [provisional synonym], Musa x paradisiaca var. thomsonii (King ex Baker) King ex K.Schum. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 45: 21 (1900) and Musa flaviflora N.W.Simmonds, Kew Bull. 11: 471 (1956 publ. 1957) which is listed as an accepted name. This seems not to follow priority.
Section	Eumusa (Musa) 1
Distribution	north-eastern India, Bhutan.
Description	Stem 3.6 - 4.5 m, 17.5 - 23.5 cm diameter at base, slender, green, speckled brown at base. Petiole c. 90 cm, compressed, narrowly channelled. Leaves scarcely spreading, blades c. 2.4 x 0.6m, narrowly lanceolate, base asymmetrically cordate, thin-textured, glaucous when fresh, afterwards shining. Male bracts recurved at apex, deciduous, ovate, bright purplish-brown streaked paler outside yellow inside. Male bud narrow, acute. Male flower unknown. Female bracts elongate ovate-lanceolate, acuminate. Female flowers borne in 3 +? hands; each with c. 18 flowers borne in 2 rows on callosities ; free tepal ovate, acute, cordate. Fruits forwardly directed when immature, finally horizontal, small (6 x 1.5 cm), pedicel slender, c. 3.5 cm. Seeds few, black, irregular in shape, 3.25 mm diameter, surrounded by much soft, sweet pulp. [from Noltie 1994]
References	Noltie 1994, Cowan & Cowan 1929, Index Kewensis.
Comments	Noltie comments that Musa flaviflora "differs from M. thomsonii in having male bracts reddish-brown outside, not streaked; young fruits spreading, shortly pedicelled. Cowan & Cowan give the name as Musa Thomsoni King Mss. Index Kewensis mentions Musa thompsoni G. King ex A. M. & J. M. Cowan and Musa thomsoni G. King ex A. M. & J. M. Cowan. The origin of the different spellings is mysterious; maybe Thompsoni was the original spelling in King's manuscript?