Rahul Sharma (Editor)

Ensete

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Kingdom
  
Family
  
Higher classification
  
Banana

Order
  
Scientific name
  
Ensete

Rank
  
Genus

Ensete wwwcooltropicalplantscomimagefileslargeenset

Lower classifications
  
Ensete ventricosum, Ensete glaucum, Ensete superbum, Ensete lasiocarpum

Ensete banana corm division


Ensete is a genus of monocarpic flowering plants native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the two genera in the banana family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset (E. ventricosum), an economically important food crop in Ethiopia.

Contents

Ensete Ensete Wikipedia

Ensete plant short film


Taxonomy

The genus Ensete was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (1796-1865) in his Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum of 1862 in which he created a single species, Ensete edule. However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the Kew Bulletin on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species.

Taxonomically, the genus Ensete has shrunk since Cheesman revived the taxon. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. Recently the number has increased to seven as the Flora of China has, not entirely convincingly, reinstated Ensete wilsonii. There is one species in Thailand, somewhat resembling E. superbum, that has not been formally described, and possibly other Asian species.

It is possible to separate Ensete into its African and Asian species.

Ensete Ensete ventricosum Abyssinian banana Musa ensete
Africa
Ensete gilletiiEnsete hombleiEnsete perrieri - endemic to Madagascar but intriguingly like the Asian E. glaucumEnsete ventricosum - enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia
Ensete Ensete ventricosum Wikipedia
Asia
Ensete glaucum - widespread in Asia from India to Papua New GuineaEnsete superbum - Western Ghats of IndiaEnsete wilsonii - Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct from E. glaucumEnsete sp. "Thailand" - possibly a new species or a disjunct population of E. superbum
Ensete Ensete ventricosum buy seeds at rarepalmseedscom

Ensete Ensete Ventricosum

References

Ensete Wikipedia