Home

Typification and check-list of Musa L. names (Musaceae) with nomenclatural notes

Markku HÄKKINEN & Henry VÄRE

en Adansonia 30 (1) - Pages 63-112

Published on 27 June 2008

The published Musa L. names are listed and typifications are considerably supplemented. Typification of the names belonging to other genera of Musaceae is beyond the scope of the present study. All the synonyms discovered are also given. Altogether, 439 names were found. Of those, 110 are illegitimate and 134 are obvious “cultivars” or dubious names presented in seven publications describing mainly “variants” of cultivated bananas, viz. M. ×paradisiaca, M. sapidisiaca and M. sapientum. Of the 170 dubious names, Blanco (1837) described 17, Hubert (1907) five (all illegitimate), Gillet (1909) 28 (all illegitimate), Teodoro (1915) 10, Quisumbing (1919) 17 and Jacob (1952) 64 names. The names (24) by De Wildeman (1920) and de Briey, in the same book, are lectotypified through illustrations. Those names represent cultivars. Of the remaining Musa names 32 represent Ensete, Musella and one Heliconia. Altogether, 26 names, Ensete excluded, could not be typified due to the lack of original material. These names remain obscure, as the descriptions do not allow identification. Fifteen iso- or homonyms were detected. The number of “proper” Musa names is about 140. In this article 69 Musa names are lectotypified and three are neotypified. Sixty-four names have a holotype, and 28 have been typified earlier. Further, three epitypes are designated here and two new combinations proposed, and three Ensete typified, as their generic placement has not been treated in the literature.


Keywords:

Musaceae, Ensete, Musa, Musella, typification, new combinations

Download full article in PDF format Order a reprint