The Dwarf Cavendish banana is a widely grown and commercially important Cavendish

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 ...

. The name "Dwarf Cavendish" is in reference to the height of the pseudostem, not the fruit. Young plants have maroon or purple blotches on their leaves but quickly lose them as they mature. It is one of the most commonly planted banana varieties from the Cavendish group, and the main source of commercial Cavendish bananas along with Grand Nain.details of the taxonomic naming of the cavendish banana
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History of cultivation

Cavendish bananas were named after

William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire William George Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire (21 May 1790 – 18 January 1858), styled Marquess of Hartington until 1811, was an English peer, courtier and Whig politician. Known as the "Bachelor Duke", he served as Lord Chamberlai ...

. Though not the first known banana specimens in Europe, around 1834 Cavendish received a shipment of bananas courtesy of the

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

Alton Towers Alton Towers Resort ( ) (often shortened to Alton Towers) is a theme park and resort complex in Staffordshire, England, near the village of Alton, Staffordshire, Alton. The park is operated by Merlin Entertainments, Merlin Entertainments Group a ...

(then the seat of the Earls of Shrewsbury). His gardener, Sir

Joseph Paxton Sir Joseph Paxton (3 August 1803 – 8 June 1865) was an English gardener, architect, engineer and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Member of Parliament. He is best known for designing the Crystal Palace, which was built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde ...

cultivated them in the greenhouses of

Chatsworth House Chatsworth House is a stately home in the Derbyshire Dales, north-east of Bakewell and west of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, Chesterfield, England. The seat of the Duke of Devonshire, it has belonged to the House of Cavendish, Cavendish family si ...

. The plants were botanically described by Paxton as ''Musa cavendishii'', after the Duke. The Chatsworth bananas were shipped off to various places in the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

around the 1850s. It is believed that some of them may have ended up in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, though other authors believe that the bananas in the Canary Islands had been there since the fifteenth century and had been introduced through other means, namely by early Portuguese explorers who obtained them from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

and were later responsible for spreading them to the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. African bananas in turn were introduced from

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 ...

into

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

by early Austronesian sailors. In 1888, bananas from the Canary Islands were imported into England by Thomas Fyffe. These bananas are now known to belong to the Dwarf Cavendish cultivar.

Taxonomy

Its accepted name is ''Musa'' (AAA group) 'Dwarf Cavendish'. Synonyms include: Dwarf cavendish leaf

#''Musa acuminata'' L. A. Colla #''Musa nana'' J. de Loureiro (name accepted at Mobot) #''Musa nana'' auct. non J. de Loureiro #''Musa chinensis'' R. Sweet #''Musa sinensis'' P. A. Sagot ex J. G. Baker #''Musa sinensis'' P. A. Sagot #''Musa sinensis'' R. Sweet ex P. A. Sagot Other common names include ''klue hom kom'', ''pisang serendah'', Chinese banana, and Canary banana.

Description

Dwarf Cavendish leaves are broad with short petioles. Its shortness makes it stable, wind-resistant, and easier to manage. This, in addition to its fast growth rate, makes it ideal for plantation cultivation. An easily recognizable characteristic of this cultivar is that the male bracts and flowers are not shed. The fruits of the Dwarf Cavendish cultivar range from about 15 to 25cm in length, and are thin skinned. Each plant can bear up to 90 fingers.

References

{{Banana Banana cultivars