Girish Mahajan (Editor)

True plantains

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Species
  
Musa × paradisiaca

Genus
  
Banana

True plantains

Hybrid parentage
  
M. acuminata × M. balbisiana

Cultivar group
  
AAB Group, Plantain subgroup

Origin
  
Southeast Asia, South Asia

Similar
  
Banana, Rhino Horn bananas, Karat banana, Señorita banana, East African Highland

"True" plantains are a group of cultivars of the genus Musa (bananas and plantains) placed in the Plantain subgroup of the AAB genome group. The term "plantain" can refer to all the banana cultivars which are normally eaten after cooking, rather than raw (see cooking plantain), or it can refer to members of other subgroups of Musa cultivars, such as the Pacific plantains. True plantains are divided into four groups based on their bunch type: French, French Horn, False Horn and Horn plantains.

Each bunch type has a variety of cultivars associated to it - i.e.:

  • French cultivars: 'Obino l'Ewai' (Nigeria), 'Nendran' (India), 'Dominico' (Colombia)
  • French Horn cultivars: 'Batard' (Cameroon), 'Mbang Okon' (Nigeria)
  • False Horn cultivars: 'Agbagda' and 'Orishele' (Nigeria), 'Dominico-Harton' (Colombia)
  • Horn cultivars: 'Ishitim' (Nigeria), 'Pisang Tandok' (Malaysia)
  • In the 1990s, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture published two guides to help scientists and farmers identify plantains in West Africa and support their cultivation.

  • The IITA Reference Guide for "Plantain cultivation under West African Conditions" (1990, page 14) contains photos of different plantain types.
  • IITA's Research Guide 66 "Morphology and Growth of Plantain and Banana" (1997, but no longer available online, page 10) contains figures of the plantain inflorescence types.
  • References

    True plantains Wikipedia