''Ensete'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of monocarpic

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

family,

Musaceae Musaceae is a family of flowering plants composed of three genera with about 91 known species, placed in the order Zingiberales. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves w ...

, and includes the false banana or enset ('' E. ventricosum''), an economically important food crop in Ethiopia.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Ensete'' was first described by

Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

(or Horaninov, 1796–1865) in his ''

Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum A prodromus ('forerunner' or 'precursor') aka prodrome is a term used in the natural sciences to describe a preliminary publication intended as the basis for a later, more comprehensive work. It is also a medical term used for a premonitory symp ...

'' 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 The ''Kew Bulletin'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal on plant and fungal taxonomy and conservation published by Springer Science+Business Media on behalf of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Articles on palynology, cytology, anatomy, ...

'' on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species. Taxonomically, the genus ''Ensete'' has shrunk since Cheesman revived the

taxon In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...

. 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 Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, 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'' synonym '' Ensete livingstonianum'' - native range W. Tropical Africa to Malawi :'' Ensete homblei'' - native range is SE. DR Congo to N. Zambia :'' Ensete perrieri'' – endemic to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

but intriguingly like the Asian ''E. glaucum'' :'' Ensete ventricosum'' – enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia ;Asia :'' Ensete glaucum'' – widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea :'' Ensete superbum'' – Western Ghats of India :'' Ensete wilsonii'' –

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

, China, but doubtfully distinct from ''E. glaucum'' :''Ensete'' sp. "Thailand" – possibly a new species or a disjunct population of ''E. superbum''

Extinct species

''Ensete oregonense'' Clarno Formation, Oregon, United States,

Eocene The Eocene ( ) Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name ''Eocene'' comes from the Ancient Greek (''ēṓs'', " ...

Notes

External links

* (1999)
IPNI Listing
(UNEUE)

(UNEUE)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
– The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia.

– Holes in the Safety Net
"A study on Esset as a means of existence, social organization and ethnical identification for the Gurage people"
Master's thesis, University of Tromsø (2009)
Kew Plant List
{{Taxonbar, from=Q312321 Ensete, Crops originating from Ethiopia Indomalayan realm flora Musaceae Root vegetables Staple foods Tropical fruit Tropical agriculture Zingiberales genera no:Bananfamilien

Taxonomy

Extinct species

See also

Notes

External links