The synonyms are from:

1. is from Baker 1893 and from Simmonds 1960 who takes this as the accepted name.
2. is from Cheesman 1947a and from Icon. Corm. Sinicorum which takes it as the accepted name.

(Based on Baker 1893 and observations by drc).

Reading some material on this plant one might reasonably suppose it to have been a recent discovery by American botanists.  This is not correct.  Known to the Yunnanese since antiquity the plant first came to the attention of western botanists following its collection in 1885 at 1,200 m. in Yunnan by the Abbé Delavay (Kew Bull., Add. Ser. 6: 15, 1906).

This taxon has caused and continues to cause problems for taxonomists and its status is still somewhat controversial.

The plant was first formally named by A. R. Franchet in 1889 who placed it in the genus Musa but in a new section he named Musella.  Baker (1893) also considered the plant to be a Musa but placed it in the section Eumusa, as Cheesman (1947) writes, "presumably because it is described as having a rhizome, for it has scarcely any other character of Eumusa".   Cheesman examined Delavay's herbarium material at Kew (the type is in Herb. Mus. Paris) and on the evidence before him commented that "whatever it may be, it is certainly not a Musa sensu strictiore" and was not therefore prepared to separate the plant from Ensete.  While noting that further study might find that the plant represented a new genus Cheesman thus created the combination Ensete lasiocarpum while reviving the genus Ensete in his 1947 paper.  The Iconographia Cormophytorum Sinicorum thus gives Ensete lasiocarpum (A. R. Franchet) E. E. Cheesman as the accepted name of the plant.

Simmonds (1960) disagreed with Cheesman although he acknowledged that the general appearance of the plant did indeed suggest an Ensete.  Simmonds noted however that the "perianth structure is like that of Musa" and that the "perianth characters are critically diagnostic of genus".   Although it is clear that he had not actually seen a living plant Simmonds thus preferred to regard it as a Musa.  Those authors who continue to treat the plant as a Musa e.g. Mabberley 1997 and the 1999 - 2000 RHS Plant Finder are using Simmonds 1960 as their authority.

Other taxonomists consider the the plant to be an anomaly in both Musa and Ensete and in 1978 C. Y. Wu (in H.-W. Li 1978) raised Musella to the status of a separate genus.   John Kress at the Smithsonian Institution has (as yet unpublished) molecular as well as morphological data to support Musella's status as a distinct, monotypic genus.  We await the publication of this definitive work.  

The chromosome number of Musella was reported in 1994 by Isobe and Hashimoto to be 2n = 18; this is the same as Ensete but it is also shared by some Musa such as M. beccarii.  The work of Simmonds and Weatherup suggests, somewhat counter-intuitively, that chromosome number is not a good basis on which to sort the Musaceae taxonomically.

Musella lasiocarpa was recorded first in Yunnan where the local names for the plant translate as 'yellow lotus emerging from the earth' or 'yellow lotus of the earth mother' or, more simply, 'rock banana'.  The plant is also listed in the Flora of Guizhou as being from s-e and s-w Guizhou.  The plant is cultivated in Fujian and the Mobot Flora of China website mentions its occurrence, perhaps in cultivation, in Vietnam and Laos.  The occurence of the plant in Vietnam is confirmed by Le Dinh Danh et al 1998 (who rather oddly did not immediately recognise the plant for what it was) and by Ho Huu Nhi (personal communication).  According to David Bar-Zvi it occurs also in Myanmar (Burma).

Botanists with a working knowledge of Yunnan and Musella think that it may be extinct in the wild and maintained only in cultivation by farmers.  This suggests the plant has some real economic or symbolic value rather than being purely ornamental.

The plant is said to be cultivated as pig fodder but Roy Lancaster mentions human consumption in 'Travels in China' (Lancaster 1989).   Lancaster comments that "in October the leafy stems [of Musella] are sliced into sections and, after boiling to remove a poisonous principle, are cooked and eaten".  In context, it seems clear that the "leafy stems" referred to by Lancaster are suckers which develop particularly after flower initiation in autumn.  The plant is also grown as an ornamental in Yunnan e.g. as potted plants in hotel courtyards.   There is also a medicinal use; I have been told by a Chinese contact that the "flower and the juice of the stem can be used as medicine to stop bleeding etc.".

The Mobot Flora of China Checklist website also gives some information on this plant:

http://mobot.mobot.org/Pick/Search/foc.html.

Still relatively little known in western horticulture this plant continues to attract special interest, see for example:

http://www.ftg.org/horticulture/musellalasiocarp.html.

And here is an update about the plant at Fairchild by David Bar-Zvi.

Musella is becoming more widely available and as this happens more will be learned about its horticulture.  Raising plants from commercial seed is notoriously difficult either because of poor viability or complex dormancy requirements or perhaps both.  However, the plant produces spontaneous suckers more or less freely and this phenomenon can be manipulated for propagation by damaging the vegetative growing point as is done with Ensete.   Tissue culture can also be used to micropropagate the plant.  Musella seems to be adaptable to the climate of Florida as it is to the U.K., is easy to grow, although spider mites are problematic, and responds well to high-N fertiliser although it perhaps not so quick growing as, say, Ensete ventricosum. 

In Yunnan the plant survives regular frosts but its cold hardiness in cultivation is not properly known.  Reportedly it is hardy to USDA zone 5 or 6.

Type:  Delavay no. 2539 (July 1885, Yun-Nan Province, alt. 1,200 m.) Herb. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris (duplicate at RBGK?); Chinese name "ngay pa tsaio" ' rock banana'.  See also Delavay without number; Juin 1887 and in "collection en bocal" nos. 3400 & 3401 and also Delavay without number ; December 1889, Herb. Mus. Hist. Nat. Paris.

Images:

There are currently four images of Musella lasiocarpa.