Banana and its Taxonomy

0
Kingdom: Plantae
Sub division: Angiosperm
Order:  Zingiberales 
Family:  Musaceae
Genus:  Musa 
Species: acuminate, balbisiana
Scientific name:  Musa acuminataMusa balbisiana
Origin: South East Asia
Chromosome number: x = 11 and 2n = 22 (diploid), 3n =33(triploid) and 4n =44 (tetraploid).
Climate: Tropical and humid climate.
Fruit bearing habit: Terminal and old season growth
Fruit type: Berry (fruit developed through vegetative parthenocarpy)
Edible part: Mesocarp and endocarp
Aroma compound responsible for fruits: 2-Hexanal, Eugenol and Isopentanol in ripe and over ripe stage respectively.
Respiratory behaviour of fruit: Climacteric and medium rate of respiration as well as ethylene production.
Inflorescence: Spadix (A spike of minute flowers closely arranged round a fleshy axis and typically  enclosed in a spathe. It can also be found in Coconut)
Pollination: Cross pollination due to dichogamy i.e. protogyny (The female reproductive organ or the gynocium mature prior to the androcium or male reproductive organ)
Pollinising agent: Humming bird
Leaf: Simple leaf with parallel venation
Photoperiodic response: Day neutral plant
Method of propagation: Sword suckers
True stem: Rhizome (Rhizomes are characterized by horizontal underground growth;
 production of  roots from multiple nodes; and production of clonal plants).
False stem: Pseudostem ( It is formed by the tightly packed overlapping leaf sheaths)

Linnaeus originally placed banana into two species based only on their uses as food: Musa sapientum for dessert bananas and Musa paradisiaca for plantains. Latter scientist found that Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca were cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species,   Musa acuminata    and   Musa   balbisiana .
In the recent years the banana are classified according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa balbisiana, those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa acuminata, and those with characteristics of both. The accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla for the ancestral species, and Musa × paradisiaca L. for the hybrid M. acuminata × M. balbisiana.
Generally, modern classifications of banana cultivars follow Simmonds and Shepherd's system. Cultivars are placed in groups based on the number of chromosomes they have and which species they are derived from. The complete genome sequences of Musa acuminate was released during 2012 and the genome size it was found to be 523 Megabase pairs.

Banana is a monocotyledonous, monocarpic (flowering only once in a plant’s life cycle) and herbaceous plant. Wild banana cultivars are diploid where as the cultivated ones are triploid. It is known as "kalpataru" means plant of virtue. India ranks first in terms of area and production in the world.

Post a Comment

0Comments
Post a Comment (0)
To Top