Spermatophyta: Monocotyledonae: Zingiberales

Musaceae - Banana family

Lock, J.M. (1993) Musaceae Flora of Tropical East Africa

Description of the family

Tall herbs. Leaves very large, spirally arranged, the leaf-sheaths forming a cylindric pseudostem. Lamina oblong. Inflorescence appearing to arise from the apex of the pseudostem. Flowers unisexual; female flowers on proximal parts of infl, male on distal, borne in groups subtended by spathaceous bracts. Calyx spathaceous, splitting down one side, with ± 3 teeth at apex. Corolla lobes 3, two of them adnate to calyx tube, the third separate and directed downwards. Stamens 6, but usually 1 rudimentary. Ovary inferior, 3-locular. Fruit a large elongated fleshy 3-locular berry containing (in the wild species) numerous subspherical seeds.

Worldwide: 6 genera and 200 species, tropics. (These numbers include the Strelitziaceae which I have treated as a separate family).

Zimbabwe: 2 genera and 2 taxa.

Ensete ventricosum

Links to genera:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

GenusContent
Ensete Horan.Description, Image
Musa L.Description

Other sources of information about Musaceae:

Our websites:

Flora of Burundi: Musaceae
Flora of the DRC: Musaceae
Flora of Malawi: Musaceae
Flora of Malawi: cultivated Musaceae
Flora of Mozambique: Musaceae
Flora of Mozambique: cultivated Musaceae
Flora of Rwanda: Musaceae
Flora of Zambia: Musaceae
Flora of Zambia: cultivated Musaceae
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Musaceae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Musaceae
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Musaceae
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Musaceae
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Musaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Musaceae
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Musaceae
JSTOR Plant Science: Musaceae
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Musaceae
Wikipedia: Musaceae
Plants of the World Online: Musaceae
Tropicos: Musaceae



Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Family page: Musaceae.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/family.php?family_id=144, retrieved 9 December 2024

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