Ensete
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Ensete is one of three genera of plants in the banana family, Musaceae.
The genus Ensete was first described by Paul (or Paulo or Paulus) Fedorowitsch Horaninow (or Horaninov) (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 genus. 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.
Africa
- Ensete gilletii
- Ensete homblei
- Ensete perrieri - endemic to Madagascar but intriguingly like the Asian E. glaucum
- Ensete ventricosum - "false banana," sometimes used in Ethiopian cuisine (particularly Gurage cuisine).
Asia
- Ensete glaucum - widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea
- Ensete superbum - Western Ghats of India
- Ensete wilsonii - Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct from E. glaucum
- Ensete sp. "Thailand" - possibly a new species or a disjunct population of E. superbum
External links and references
- David Constantine (http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/genusensete.htm)
- Dave's Garden (http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/38383/) - Information on False Banana, Red Abyssinian Banana, Wild Banana (Ensete ventricosum)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/descrip.shtml) - The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia.es:Ensete