Musa basjoo

Last updated

Musa basjoo
Musa basjooSochi1.JPG
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Musaceae
Genus: Musa
Section: Musa sect. Musa
Species:
M. basjoo
Binomial name
Musa basjoo
Siebold & Zucc. ex Iinuma
At Glasgow Botanic Gardens Musa basjoo, Glasgow Botanic Gardens.jpg
At Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Musa basjoo, known variously as Japanese banana, [2] Japanese fibre banana [3] or hardy banana, is a species of flowering plant belonging to the banana family Musaceae. It was previously thought to have originated in the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan, from where it was first described in cultivation, [4] but is now known to have originated in subtropical southern China, where it is also widely cultivated, with wild populations found in Sichuan province. [3] [5] Its specific name is derived from its Japanese common name, bashō (芭蕉).

Contents

Description

Musa basjoo is a herbaceous perennial with trunk-like pseudostems [lower-alpha 1] growing to around 2–2.5 m (6.6–8.2 ft), with a crown of mid-green leaves growing up to 2 m (6.6 ft) long and 70 cm (28 in) wide when mature. The species produces male and female flowers on the same inflorescence which may extend for over 1 m (3.3 ft). The banana fruit formed are yellow-green, around 5–10 cm (2.0–3.9 in) long and 2–3 cm (0.79–1.18 in) broad; they are inedible, with sparse white pulp and many black seeds. [4] [6]

Uses

Cultivation

Musa basjoo has been cultivated both for its fibre and as an ornamental plant in gardens outside its natural range, first in Japan, and from the late 19th century, then in the warmer parts of western and central Europe (north of the United Kingdom), the United States, and southern Canada. In gardens, it is used as a hardy 'tropical foliage' plant. Although the pseudostem may only cope with a few degrees below freezing, the underground rhizome is considered frost hardy, if well insulated with thick mulch, in areas with winter temperatures down to −12 °C (10 °F). [4] [7] The roots are considered hardy to −10 °C (14 °F). [8] If the pseudostem is killed, the banana will resprout from the ground where it rapidly grows to full size in a season under optimal conditions. Thus, it can be grown as far north as USDA zone 6a. It can also be overwintered under cover in a pot and kept growing, which is the only way it can be made to fruit in northern regions as it requires 12–24 months of warmth to bloom. [4]

In the UK, it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [9] [10]

Fibre

In Japan, Musa basjoo plant fibres are used to produce textiles known in Japanese as kijōka-bashōfu (bashōfu (芭蕉布, "banana cloth)). Whole pseudostems are cut into strips up to 3 metres (9.8 ft) long. These are beaten, bleached and dried to produce the raw material, which can then be made into products like hand-knotted carpets, tablecloths, kimono and paper. [8]

Traditional medicine

In traditional Chinese medicine, the stem, flower, leaves and rhizome of Musa basjoo are considered useful for clearing heat-toxins, quenching thirst and disinhibiting urine. [11]

Culture

The 17th-century Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō took his pen name from this plant. [12]

Notes

  1. ↑ A pseudostem is a false stem formed by the rolled bases of leaves.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banana</span> Tropical, edible, staple fruit

A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in, starch covered with a peel, which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana, or hybrids of them.

<i>Pinus parviflora</i> Species of conifer

Pinus parviflora, also known as five-needle pine, or Japanese white pine, is a pine in the white pine group, Pinus subgenus Strobus, native to Japan.

<i>Trachycarpus fortunei</i> Species of palm

Trachycarpus fortunei, the Chinese windmill palm, windmill palm or Chusan palm, is a species of hardy evergreen palm tree in the family Arecaceae, native to parts of China, Japan, Myanmar and India.

<i>Weigela</i> Genus of flowering plants in the honeysuckle family Caprifoliaceae

Weigela is a genus of between six and 38 species of deciduous shrubs in the family Caprifoliaceae, growing to 1–5 m (3–15′) tall. All are natives of eastern Asia. The genus is named after the German scientist Christian Ehrenfried Weigel.

<i>Musa</i> (genus) Genus of flowering plants in the banana and plantain family Musaceae

Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae. The genus includes 83 species of flowering plants producing edible bananas and plantains. Though they grow as high as trees, banana and plantain plants are not woody and their apparent "stem" is made up of the bases of the huge leaf stalks. Thus, they are technically gigantic herbaceous plants.

<i>Lavandula angustifolia</i> Species of plant

Lavandula angustifolia, formerly L. officinalis, is a flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean. Its common names include lavender, true lavender and English lavender ; also garden lavender, common lavender and narrow-leaved lavender.

<i>Rheum palmatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Rheum palmatum is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae. It is commonly called Chinese rhubarb, ornamental rhubarb, Turkey rhubarb or East Indian rhubarb.

<i>Musella lasiocarpa</i> Species of tree

Musella lasiocarpa, commonly known as Chinese dwarf banana, golden lotus banana or Chinese yellow banana, is the sole species in the genus Musella. It is thus a close relative of bananas, and also a member of the family Musaceae.

<i>Iris pallida</i> Species of flowering plant

Iris pallida, the Dalmatian iris or sweet iris, is a hardy flowering perennial plant of the genus Iris, family Iridaceae. It is native to the Dalmatian coast (Croatia) but widely naturalised elsewhere. It is a member of the subgenus Iris, meaning that it is a bearded iris, and grows from a rhizome. It adapts well to different environments and is used in many different ways.

<i>Spiraea thunbergii</i> Species of plant

Spiraea thunbergii (珍珠绣线菊), Thunberg spiraea or Thunberg's meadowsweet, is a species of flowering plant in the rose family, native to East China and Japan, and widely cultivated elsewhere.

<i>Phlomis fruticosa</i> Species of flowering plants in the sage family Lamiaceae

Phlomis fruticosa, the Jerusalem sage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, native to Albania, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Monte Negro and Turkey.

<i>Musa sikkimensis</i> Species of banana

Musa sikkimensis is a species of flowering plant found primarily in the northeast of the Indian Subcontinent, in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Nepal.

<i>Ensete ventricosum</i> Species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae

Ensete ventricosum, commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The domesticated form of the plant is cultivated only in Ethiopia, where it provides the staple food for approximately 20 million people. The name Ensete ventricosum was first published in the Kew Bulletin 1947, p. 101. Its synonyms include Musa arnoldiana De Wild., Musa ventricosa Welw. and Musa ensete J. F. Gmelin. In its wild form, it is native to the eastern edge of the Great African Plateau, extending northwards from South Africa through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to Ethiopia, and west to the Congo, being found in high-rainfall forests on mountains, and along forested ravines and streams.

<i>Musa ornata</i> Species of banana plant

Musa ornata, the flowering banana, is one of more than 50 species of banana in the genus Musa of the family Musaceae. Most of these species are large tropical evergreen perennials, mainly from lowland areas with high temperature and humidity. Musa ornata originated in southeast Asia, and is cultivated for its commercial and ornamental value. The fruit is attractive but tends to be inedible.

<i>Musa coccinea</i> Species of flowering plant

Musa coccinea, commonly known as scarlet banana or red-flowering banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana and plantain family Musaceae, native to tropical China and Vietnam. It is a bat-pollinated evergreen perennial, placed in section Callimusa, having a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 20.

Ensete glaucum, the snow banana, has also been classified as Musa nepalensis, Ensete giganteum, or Ensete wilsonii.

<i>Phyllostachys bambusoides</i> Species of plant

Phyllostachys bambusoides, commonly called madake, giant timber bamboo, or Japanese timber bamboo, is a species of flowering plant in the bamboo subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, native to China, and possibly also to Japan.

<i>Phyllostachys vivax</i> Species of grass

Phyllostachys vivax, the Chinese timber bamboo, is a species of flowering plant in the bamboo subfamily of the grass family Poaceae, native to China.

Toshiko Taira was a Japanese textile artist who was based in Okinawa. She created kijōka-bashōfu, a cloth made from the fibre of the Musa basjoo, otherwise known as the Japanese fibre banana plant. Taira became a designated Living National Treasure of Japan in 2000.

References

  1. ↑ Plummer, J. & Kallow, S. (2022). "Japanese Banana Musa basjoo". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022: e.T158541010A158544238. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T158541010A158544238.en . Retrieved 27 October 2023.
  2. ↑ Snow Barlow (July 19, 2002). "Sorting Musa Names". Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database. University of Melbourne. Retrieved July 7, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Musa basjoo". Germplasm Resources Information Network . Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture . Retrieved January 10, 2018.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening 3: 268. Macmillan ISBN   0-333-47494-5.
  5. ↑ Liu, A.-Z.; Li, D.-Z.; Li, X.-W. (2002). "Taxonomic notes on wild bananas (Musa) from China". Bot. Bull. Acad. Sin. 43: 77–81.
  6. ↑ Constantine, D. (1999–2008). "Musa basjoo". The Musaceae: An annotated list of the species of Ensete, Musa and Musella.
  7. ↑ "Banans Raras – Musa basjoo" . Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  8. 1 2 Wong, James (2013), "Kimonos from banana peel?" (PDF), The Garden, 138 (8): 17
  9. ↑ "RHS Plantfinder - Musa basjoo" . Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  10. ↑ "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 65. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
  11. ↑ Musa basjoo Sieb. et Zucc.. Medicinal Plant Images Database, School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University. Retrieved on 25 February 2012.
  12. ↑ Shirane, Haruo (1998). Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Bashō. Stanford: Stanford University Press. p. 64. ISBN   9780804730990.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.