Musa balbisiana

Two wild species are the origin of most cultivated bananas. These are Musa acuminate and Musa balbisiana.

In the drier areas of Asia where the wild and seedy Musa balbisiana predominates, a parallel evolutionary development occurred which led to the appearance of pure diploid and triploid balbisiana cultivars first recognized in the Philippines.

Musa balbisiana includes not only wild forms but numerous cultivated varieties. The range of Musa balbisiana extends over Sri Lanka, India, Java, Malaysia, Burma and Thailand. Musa balbisiana grows widely from sea-level up to 900 m.

The Pali chronicle Mahavamsa, written in the 5th century AD, cites its occurrence there under the name ‘ettikehel’. It was suggested that this wild species may have been the ancestor of the numerous seedless forms now in cultivation and distinguished from each other by differences in the shape and color of the fruits.

Seeds of Musa balbisiana, parent of many commercial edible bananas varieties, are dark brown, ovoid, about 4 mm (0.2 in) long, with conspicuous white powdery endosperm.
Musa balbisiana

Introduction of Banana to the West

Introduction of Banana to the West
Bananas are not native to the Western Hemisphere. Their original homeland was most likely in South or Southeast Asia. Various banana species were diffused by human migration – for example, by the Polynesian, who carried them as far as Hawaii – or by conquest – such as by the Arabs, who were responsible for the banana’s westward expansion.

The biological term used for bananas, musa, is Arabic; it is derivative of a Sanskrit word, reflecting the fact that Arabs originally encountered the fruit in India.

There are many species of bananas, most of which are produced on a small scale for local consumption throughout the tropics. Only a few species are produced for export on a major scale, and those have lost the ability to reproduce from seeds.

They must be propagated by dividing the rhizomes (root stock) to generate new plants for each growing season.

European first came across bananas during their explorations of coastal Africa, to which the banana had spread either by Arab contact from the North, through Polynesian migration to Madagascar, or both.

The Spanish were responsible for its introduction into the Americas when Friar Tomas de Berlanga brought the first banana plants from the Canary Islands to Santo Domingo in 1516.

It is important to note that the fruit alone was incapable of such lengthy voyages, a problem that delayed its commercialization until the late nineteenth century. The entire plant stock had to be transported for propagation on the new territories.
Introduction of Banana to the West