The following is a list of banana cultivars and the groups into which they are classified. Almost all modern cultivated varieties (

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

s) of edible

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s and plantains are hybrids and

polyploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the biological cell, cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of (Homologous chromosome, homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have Cell nucleus, nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning ...

s of two wild, seeded banana species, ''

Musa acuminata ''Musa acuminata'' is a species of banana native to South Asia, Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are derived from this species, although some are hybrids wi ...

'' and ''

Musa balbisiana ''Musa balbisiana'', also known simply as plantain, is a wild-type species of banana. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with '' Musa acuminata''. Description It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit ...

''. Cultivated bananas are almost always seedless (

parthenocarpic In botany and horticulture, parthenocarpy is the natural or artificially induced production of fruit without fertilisation of ovules, which makes the fruit seedless. The phenomenon has been observed since ancient times but was first scientificall ...

) and hence sterile, so they are propagated vegetatively (

cloned Cloning is the process of producing individual organisms with identical genomes, either by natural or artificial means. In nature, some organisms produce clones through asexual reproduction; this reproduction of an organism by itself without ...

). They are classified into groups according to a genome-based system introduced by Ernest Cheesman, Norman Simmonds, and Ken Shepherd, which indicates the degree of genetic inheritance from the two wild parents and the number of

chromosome A chromosome is a package of DNA containing part or all of the genetic material of an organism. In most chromosomes, the very long thin DNA fibers are coated with nucleosome-forming packaging proteins; in eukaryotic cells, the most import ...

s (

ploidy Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

). Cultivars derived from ''Musa acuminata'' are more likely to be used as dessert bananas, while those derived from ''Musa balbisiana'' and hybrids of the two are usually plantains or cooking bananas.

Classification of cultivars

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

plants were originally classified by

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

into two species, which he called ''Musa paradisiaca'' – those used as cooking bananas ( plantains), and ''M. sapientum ''– those used as dessert bananas. The primary center of diversity of cultivated bananas is

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. Botanical exploration of this area led to many more species being named, along with subspecies and varieties. However, this approach proved inadequate to deal with the large number of cultivated varieties (

s) which were discovered, and many of the names later proved to be

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...

. Furthermore, it was discovered that most cultivated bananas are actually hybrids between two wild species, '' M. acuminata'' and '' M. balbisiana'', both first described in 1820 by the Italian

botanist Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

Luigi Aloysius Colla Luigi Aloysius Colla (30 April 1766 – 23 December 1848) was an Italian botanist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He was a member of the Provisional Government of Savoy from December 12, 1798, to April 2, 1799, taking his turn as chai ...

, and that Linnaeus' two "species" were both this hybrid, which is now called ''M. ''×'' paradisiaca''. Unlike the wild species, which have seeds, cultivated bananas are almost always seedless (

) and hence sterile, so they have to be propagated vegetatively. In 1955, researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed abandoning traditional Latin-based

botanical name A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN) and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar or cultivar group, Group epithets must conform t ...

s for cultivated bananas. This approach foreshadowed the

International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (ICNCP) is a guide to the rules and regulations for naming cultigens, plants whose origin or selection is primarily due to intentional human activity. It is also known as Cultivate ...

which, in addition to using Latin names based on the

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

, gives cultivars names in a currently spoken language, enclosed in single quotes, and organizes them into "

cultivar group A Group (previously cultivar-groupInternational Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants, 4th edition (1969), 5th edition (1980) and 6th edition (1995)) is a formal category in the '' International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants'' (' ...

s", also not given Latin names. Banana cultivars derived from ''M. acuminata'' and ''M. balbisiana'' can be classified into cultivar groups using two criteria. The first is the number of

s: whether the plant is

diploid Ploidy () is the number of complete sets of chromosomes in a cell, and hence the number of possible alleles for autosomal and pseudoautosomal genes. Here ''sets of chromosomes'' refers to the number of maternal and paternal chromosome copies, ...

triploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...

tetraploid Polyploidy is a condition in which the cells of an organism have more than two paired sets of ( homologous) chromosomes. Most species whose cells have nuclei (eukaryotes) are diploid, meaning they have two complete sets of chromosomes, one fro ...

. The second is relationship to the two ancestral species, which may be determined by

genetic analysis Genetic analysis is the overall process of studying and researching in fields of science that involve genetics and molecular biology. There are a number of applications that are developed from this research, and these are also considered parts ...

or by a scoring system devised by Simmonds and Shepherd. A cultivar is scored on 15 characters, chosen because they differ between the two species. Each character is given a score between one and five according to whether it is typical of ''M. acuminata'' or of ''M. babisiana'' or is in between. Thus the total score for a cultivar will range from 15 if all characters agree with ''M. acuminata'' to 75 if all characters agree with ''M. balbisiana''. Intermediate scores suggest mixed ancestry: for example, 45 would be expected for diploids with equal genetic contributions from both species. Groups are then named using a combination of the letters "A" and "B". The number of letters shows the ploidy; the proportion of As and Bs the contributions of the ancestral species. The AAB Group, for example, comprises triploid cultivars with more genetic inheritance from ''M. acuminata'' than ''M. balbisiana''. A character score of around 35 is expected for members of this group. Within groups, cultivars may be divided into subgroups and then given a cultivar name, e.g. ''Musa'' AAA Group (Cavendish Subgroup) 'Robusta'. In practice, the scoring system and the associated grouping is not as straightforward as the Simmonds and Shepherd naming system implies. For example, a member of the AAB Group should have a score about one third of the way between ''M. acuminata'' and ''M. balbisiana'' (i.e. about 35) if one third of its chromosomes come from ''M. balbisiana''. However, the cultivars 'Silk' and 'Pome', both classified in the AAB Group, scored 26 and 46 respectively. The cultivar 'Pelipita' is placed in the ABB group, so should have 11 of its 33 chromosomes derived from ''M. acuminata''. However, a technique called "genomic ''in situ'' hybridization" (GISH) showed that actually only 8 chromosomes were of this origin. Other lines of evidence suggest a more complex genome structure is present in other banana cultivars, so the group names should not be taken at face value.

Cultivars

The total number of cultivars of bananas and plantains has been estimated to be anything from around 300 to more than 1000. Names are highly confused, even within a single country. Many common names do not refer to a single cultivar or clone; for example 'Lady's Finger' or 'Lady Finger' has been used as the name for members of different genome groups, including AA and AAB. Many other names are synonyms of cultivars grown in the same or different countries. Attempts have been made to create lists of synonyms. In 2000, Valmayor et al. listed equivalent local names for 68 cultivars across five Southeast Asian countries (the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam), together with their internationally used names. They considered a further 81 cultivars to be unique to one country. In 2007, Ploetz et al. listed more cultivar names and synonyms, with an emphasis on those grown in the islands of the Pacific, but including some grown in areas such as India, Africa and South America. As an example, for the widely grown cultivar 'Dwarf Cavendish', they gave 58 synonyms from 29 countries or geographical areas.

ProMusa ProMusa was the name originally given to a global program on banana improvement set up bINIBAPin 1997. In 2007, it was restructured as a knowledge-sharing platform coordinated by Bioversity International. It was dissolved in 2021. History Promu ...

has created a checklist of banana cultivar names based on available literature. A recent development is the use of "somaclones" in banana cultivation.

Micropropagation Micropropagation or tissue culture is the practice of rapidly multiplying plant stock material to produce many progeny plants, using modern plant tissue culture methods. Micropropagation is used to multiply a wide variety of plants, such as ...

involves growing plants from very small amounts of source tissue, sometimes even a single

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

, under sterile conditions using artificial techniques to induce growth from mitochondrial relief systems. The purpose of micropropagation is often to produce a large number of genetically identical offspring in the manner of Shannon et al. However, by inducing

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, ...

s through various means, it is possible to produce plants which differ slightly from the "parent" plant and from each other ("somaclonal variations"). By growing on these somaclones and selecting those with desirable features, new cultivars can be produced which are very similar to an existing cultivar, but differ in one or two features, such as disease resistance. Somaclones may only be distinguishable by

''Musa'' section

''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' is the name for hybrids between ''

'' (A) and ''

'' (B), both in ''Musa'' section ''Musa''.

AA Group

Diploid ''

'', both wild banana plants and cultivars * Chingan banana *

Lakatan banana Lakatan bananas, also spelled Lacatan, are diploid banana cultivars from the Philippines. It is one of the most common banana cultivars in the Philippines, along with the Latundan and Saba bananas. Lakatan bananas should not be confused with ...

* Pisang jari buaya (Crocodile fingers banana) *

Señorita banana Señorita bananas (also known as Monkoy, Cariñosa, or Cuarenta Dias) are diploid cultivars of the banana ''Musa acuminata'' originating in the Philippines. They are very small stout bananas which, like all bananas belonging to the AA cultiva ...

(Monkoy, Arnibal banana, Cuarenta dias, Cariñosa, Pisang Empat Puluh Hari, Pisang Lampung) * Sinwobogi banana * Pisang Lilin * Pisang Kapas * Pisang Oli (Pisang Ketan) *Sucrier subgroup ** Lady Finger banana (Sugar banana) ** Pisang Muli

AAA Group

Triploid ''

'', both wild banana plants and cultivars *

Cavendish Subgroup Cavendish bananas are the fruits of one of a number of banana cultivars belonging to the Cavendish subgroup of the AAA banana cultivar group (triploid cultivars of ''Musa acuminata''). The same term is also used to describe the plants on which t ...

**'

Madagascar banana ''Ensete perrieri'', or the ''Madagascar banana'', is a species of banana exclusively found in western Madagascar. The Madagascar banana is listed as critically endangered because of deforestation and climate change. Some botanists believe that ...

' ** 'Dwarf Cavendish' ** 'Giant Cavendish' ('Williams') ***Formosana (GCTCV-218), a variant with some resistance to ''Fusarium'' wilt TR4 **'

Grand Nain The Grand Nain banana (also spelled Grande Naine) is a banana cultivar of ''Musa acuminata''. It is one of the most commonly cultivated bananas and a member of the commercial Cavendish banana cultivar group. It is also known as the Chiquita banan ...

' ('Chiquita') ** 'Masak Hijau' ** 'Robusta' * Gros Michel subgroup ** Pisang Ambon * Azman (grown in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

) * 'Red Dacca' * Dwarf Red banana * Flhorban 920 *

East African Highland bananas Matoke, locally also known as matooke, amatooke in Buganda (Central Uganda), ekitookye in southwestern Uganda, ekitooke in western Uganda, kamatore in Lugisu ( Eastern Uganda), ebitooke in northwestern Tanzania, igitoki in Rwanda, Burundi and by ...

(AAA-EA subgroup) * Pisang Susu ('Kluai Nam Nom') * Pisang Ampyang * Pisang Palembang * Pisang Pulo * Pisang Papan

AAAA Group

Tetraploid ''

'', both wild bananas and cultivars * Bodles Altafort banana * Golden Beauty banana

AAAB Group

Tetraploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' * Atan banana *

Goldfinger banana The Goldfinger banana (FHIA-01) is a banana cultivar developed in Honduras. The cultivar, developed at the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research (FHIA) by a team of scientists led by Phillip Rowe and Franklin Rosales, has been bred to b ...

AAB Group

Triploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca''. This group contains the Plantain subgroup, composed of "true" plantains or African Plantains. The AAB Group's centre of diversity is Central and West Africa, where a large number of cultivars were domesticated following the introduction of ancestral Plantains from Asia, possibly 2000–3000 years ago. The Iholena and Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroups are referred to as Pacific plantains. *Iholena subgroup – ''subgroup of cooking bananas domesticated in the Pacific region'' *Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroup – ''subgroup of cooking bananas domesticated in the Pacific region'' ** Maqueño banana ** Popoulu banana *Mysore subgroup – ''cooking and dessert bananas'' ** Mysore banana *Pisang Raja subgroup ** Pisang Raja banana *Pisang Nangka subgroup * Plantain subgroup :* French cultivars: 'Obino l'Ewai' (Nigeria), 'Nendran' (India), 'Dominico' (Colombia) :* French Horn cultivars: 'Batard' (Cameroon), 'Mbang Okon' (Nigeria) :* False Horn cultivars: 'Agbagba' and 'Orishele' (Nigeria), 'Dominico-Harton' (Colombia) :* Horn cultivars: 'Ishitim' (Nigeria), 'Tanduk', (Indonesia), 'Pisang Tandok' (Malaysia) :* Unsorted :** French plantain :**

Cooking banana Cooking bananas are a group of banana cultivars in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa'' whose fruits are generally used in cooking. They are not eaten raw and are generally starchy. Many cooking bananas are referred to as plantains or 'green bananas ...

:**

Green French banana Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

:** Horn plantain and

Rhino Horn banana Rhino Horn bananas, also called Rhino Horn plantains or African Rhino Horn, are hybrid banana cultivars from Africa. It produces strongly curved and elongated edible bananas which can grow to a length of two feet, the longest fruits among banan ...

:** Nendran banana :** Pink French banana :** Tiger banana *Pome subgroup ** Pome banana ** Prata-anã banana (Dwarf Brazilian banana, Dwarf Prata) *Silk subgroup **

Latundan banana The Latundan banana (also called Tundan, silk banana, ''Pisang raja sereh'', ''Manzana banana'', or apple banana) is a triploid hybrid banana cultivar of the AAB "Pome" group from the Philippines. It is one of the most common banana cultivar ...

(Silk banana, Apple banana, Pisang Raja Sereh) *Others ** Thousand Fingers banana ** Plu banana

AABB Group

Tetraploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' * Kalamagol banana

AB Group

Diploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' * Ney Poovan banana

ABB Group

Triploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' *Bluggoe Subgroup :*

Bluggoe Bluggoe, Orinoco, ''Musa'' Orinoco, or burro is a cultivar of banana. Genome Bluggoe is a triploid ABB cultivar. Cultivation Bluggoe is a cold hardy banana, growing in USDA zones 810 or 710. Tree to tall. Width of leaves same dimensions. Flo ...

banana (also known as orinoco and "burro") :* Silver Bluggoe banana * Pelipita banana (Pelipia, Pilipia) * Pisang Awak Subgroup (Ducasse banana) :* Cau Bedong * Saba Subgroup :*

Saba banana Saba banana (pron. or ) is a triploid hybrid (ABB) banana cultivar originating from the Philippines. It is primarily a cooking banana, though it can also be eaten raw. It is one of the most important banana varieties in Philippine cuisine. It i ...

(Cardaba, Dippig) :*

Cardava Cardava bananas, also spelled cardaba or kardaba, is a triploid hybrid ( ABB) banana cultivar originating from the Philippines. It is primarily a cooking banana, though it can also be eaten raw. It is commonly confused with the more ubiquito ...

:*'' Pisang kepok'' :* Benedetta banana, also known as 'Uht Kapakap' in Micronesia, 'Praying Hands' in Florida, and 'Inabaniko' or 'Ripping' in the Philippines *Others :* Blue Java (Ice Cream banana, Ney mannan, Ash plantain, Pata hina, Dukuru, Vata)

ABBB Group

Tetraploid cultivars of ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' * Tiparot banana

BB Group

Diploid ''

'', wild bananas

''Callimusa'' section

Cultivars of '' Musa lolodensis'', ''

Musa maclayi Musa may refer to: Places *Mūša, a river in Lithuania and Latvia * Musa, Azerbaijan, a village in Yardymli Rayon *Musa, Iran, a village in Ilam province, Iran * Musa, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran * Musa Kalayeh, Gilan province, Iran *Abu Mus ...

'' and '' Musa peekelii'' belong in ''Musa'' section ''Callimusa''. *

Fe'i banana Fe'i bananas (also spelt Fehi or Féi) are cultivated plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa'', used mainly for their fruit. They are very distinct in appearance and origin from the majority of bananas and True plantains, plantains currently g ...

References

External links

Information portal on banana cultivars
{{DEFAULTSORT:Banana cultivars Lists of cultivars