Ensete

Ensete is a genus of flowering plants native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset (E. ventricosum), an economically important foodcrop in Ethiopia.

 Taxonomy 
The genus Ensete was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (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 been reduced since Cheesman restore the taxon. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. The Plant List  accepts eight species as valid.

Description
The plants of Ensete are very large herbs without branches that die after producing seeds; They have only one stem that remains short until flowering.

They have very big leaves; the lower parts of the leaves form a false stem so they look as trees. Their fruits are leathery and dry berries with few big and hard seeds.

Species
It is possible to separate Ensete into its African and Asian species.

Africa
Ensete homblei (Bequart ex De Wild.) Cheesman - SE Democratic Republic of Congo to N Zambia
Ensete livingstonianum (J.Kirk) Cheesman - Western tropical Africa to Malawi
Ensete perrieri (Claverie) Cheesman - endemic to Madagascar
Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman - enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia

Asia
Ensete glaucum (Roxb.) Cheesman - widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea
Ensete lasiocarpum (Franch.) Cheesman - China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar (Burma)
Ensete superbum (Roxb.) Cheesman - Western Ghats of India
Ensete wilsonii (Tutcher) Cheesman - Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct from E. glaucum

 Related pages 
Musa (genus)
Plantain
Banana

Notes

References

Other websites

 IPNI Listing

Category:Musaceae