Musa troglodytarum

Musa troglodytarum L., Species Plantarum ed. II: 1478 (1763).
Musa troglodytarum J. Gaertner, De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum, 1: t. 11 (Dec 1788).
Musa troglodytarum A. Moon, Catalogue of the indigenous and exotic plants growing in Ceylon. Wesleyan Mission Press. Colombo. (1824).
Musa trogloditarum F. M. Blanco, Flora de Filipinas. Convento de San Agustin, Intramuros, Manila (1837).
Musa troglodytarum S. Kurz, J. Agric. Hort. Soc. Ind. Part 1. 5 (3): 163 (1877).

Musa troglodytarum L., Species Plantarum ed. II: 1478 (1763).

Accepted name	none - a conflation of an undetermined Fe'i type banana and Musa balbisiana.
Synonyms	1. Musa uranoscopos G. E. Rumphius, Herbarium Amboinense, 5: 137 (1750). 2. in part Musa x paradisiaca var. granulosa J. G. A. Forster, De Plantis Esculentis Insulam Oceani Australis Commentatio Botanica: 31 (1786). 3. in part Musa balbisiana L. A. Colla, Memoria della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 25 : 384 (1820). [Memoria sul genera Musa e monografia del Medesimo 56 (1820).] and E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 3 (1): 14 (1948). 4. Musa fehi C. L. G. Bertero ex E. (D. E.) Vieillard, Annales des Sciences Naturelles; Botanique, IV, 16: 45 (1861).
Authorities	The accepted name is from Cheesman 1948a. The synonymy is from: 1 & 3. Cheesman 1948a 4. Griffiths 1994 and Huxley 1992. The World Checklist of Monocotyledons lists Musa troglodytarum L., Sp. Pl. ed. 2: 1477 (1763) as an accepted name and lists the following synonyms; Musa x sapientum subsp. troglodytarum (L.) Baker, Ann. Bot. (Oxford) 7: 215 (1893), Musa x paradisiaca subsp. troglodytarum (L.) K.Schum. in H.G.A.Engler (ed.), Pflanzenr., IV, 45: 21 (1900), Musa uranoscopos Colla, Mem. Gen. Musa: 59 (1820), nom. illeg., Musa fehi Bertero ex Vieill., Ann. Sci. Nat., Bot., IV, 16: 45 (1861), Musa uranoscopus Seem., Fl. Vit.: 290 (1868), sensu auct., Musa seemannii F.Muell., Fragm. 9: 190 (1875).
Section	Australimusa
Distribution	Indonesia & Polynesia.
Description
References	Backer & Bakhuizen 1968, Baker 1893: 214-215, Cheesman 1948a, Graf Exotica, Griffiths 1994, GRIN, Huxley 1992, RHS 1956, Stover & Simmonds 1987.
Comments	Musa troglodytarum is a right old mess dating back to Linnaeus himself who included within it two disparate elements. As Cheesman points out "in an astounding piece of work [Linnaeus] lump[ed] together "Musa uranoscopus" [of Rumphius] which has an erect inflorescence with "Pisang Batu" which has not." And, as mentioned by Sulpiz Kurz, Linnaeus was in a particularly perverse mood that day choosing to give the plant the "very absurd" name of the "banana of the cave-dwellers" when it had already been given the "excellent" name of the "star-gazing" banana by Rumphius. (Incidentally, Musa uranoscopos Lour. is quite a different thing but in its own way enigmatic). "Musa uranoscopus" and "Musa XI, pissang batu" are a couple of Rumphius' names from his Herbarium Amboinense of 1750 and are completely different plants, the former being a cultivated Fe'i banana and the latter the type of Musa balbisiana Colla. However, after Linnaeus it seems technically possible to consider Musa troglodytarum as a synonym of these two completely different plants. Cheesman points out that Musa troglodytarum L. refers primarily to "Musa uranoscopus" of Rumphius but he nevertheless gives it as synonym while "reviving" Colla's Musa balbisiana. Although Colla gives Musa troglodytarum L. as a synonym of his Musa balbisiana, he uses Rumphius' "Musa XI pissang batu" element as his type and specifically rejects the "Musa uranoscopus" element. (Actually, this would make more sense if Colla was using Musa troglodytarum Blanco which according to Kurz includes Botohan or Botoan (= Butuhan) a form of M. balbisiana. However, I don't know whether this is even likely or not. Blanco's ed 2 was 1845 so it might just be possible for ed 1 to have been accessible to Colla in 1820). The association of Musa troglodytarum with the Fe'i bananas begins of course with Rumphius' "Musa uranoscopus" but goes on. In a rather cryptic comment on what he gives as various subspecies of M. sapientum, Baker 1893 notes that M. Troglodytarum L. and (in synonymy) M. Uranoscopos Rumph. "have often been applied to forms of other species than sapientum, with a similar habit, such as M. Fehi." Then under Musa Fehi itself Baker writes "this is M. Uranoscopos, Seem. Fl. Vit. 290 and M. Troglodytarum, Kurz in Journ. Agric.-Hort. Soc. Ind. N. S. V, 163, in part." Although the reference is different I think this is still Rumphius' "M. uranoscopus". Baker includes all sorts of things in his extremely broad interpretation of "M. sapientum L." It may have been proper to include the "Musa XI pissang batu" element of M. Troglodytarum L. in a discussion of "M. sapientum" but to drag along the "Musa uranoscopus" element is to say the least unhelpful. It is difficult to understand the nature of the "similar habit" of "M. sapientum" and "M. Fehi" that would lead anyone carefully to apply the name of the first to forms of the latter. The mere fact that they are both cultivated edible bananas won't do. Other uses of M. troglodytarum in the literature are, in the precise sense, not clear to me at present. Stover & Simmonds 1987 state that Musa troglodytarum (no author stated) was applied to a group of cultivated clones of the Fe'i bananas grown for fruit in East Indonesia. This could be a reference to Musa troglodytarum L. or at least to the "M. uranoscopus" Rumph. element of it. Stover & Simmonds 1987 caution that the Fe'i bananas are so poorly understood that the application of Latin binomials to them is "unwise". According to Huxley 1992 Musa troglodytarum (author not stated) was originally applied to plants from Sumatra and Musa fehi (author not stated) to plants from Tahiti. This implies a nice distinction but where, I think, none exists. The Fe'i bananas are a distinct group of clones originated from members of the section Australimusa. It is possible that the Fe'is are derived exclusively from Musa maclayi but others species including Musa jackeyi, Musa angustigemma, Musa peekelii and possibly others may also have contributed.

Musa troglodytarum A. Moon, Catalogue of the indigenous and exotic plants growing in Ceylon. Wesleyan Mission Press. Colombo. (1824).

Accepted name	none - group of undetermined wild and cultivated bananas
Synonyms
Authorities
Section
Distribution
Description
References	Kurz 1877 : 155
Comments	Kurz lists 4 types of "Musa troglodytarum of Moon" as follows: a. wild ones on the mountains Nawari-kesel-aeta (seed) b. cultivated ones Nawari-kesel-susu (white) Nawari-kesel-kulu (black) Nawari-kesel-tis (thirty)

Accepted name	Musa balbisiana L.A. Colla, Memoria della Reale Accademia delle Scienze di Torino 25 : 384 (1820). [Memoria sul genera Musa e monografia del Medesimo 56 (1820).] and E. E. Cheesman, Kew Bulletin 3 (1): 14 (1948).
Synonyms
Authorities
Section
Distribution
Description
References	Valmayor et al 2002 : 4
Comments	According to Valmayor et al Father Blanco identified Musa trogloditarum (sic) L. as the Philippine banana Botohan or Botoan i.e. Musa balbisiana.