atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

Maranta leuconeura Morr. " maranta", "prayer plant", "rabbit tracks"
Recent introduction. Brazil. Rare. Perennial herb, up to 30 cm high; leaves, up to
15 cm long, oblong, stalked, light emerald green with brown-purple patches both sides of
the mid-vein, lying almost horizontal by day becoming more vertical at night like hands
in prayer; flowers, about 2.7 cm long, white to violet, accompanied by two narrow
bracts. Ornamental pot plant. 6, 7.
MUSACEAE (Banana Family)*
*The nomenclature for the genus Musa is confused, with most of the common
seedless cultivars or clones being triploid crosses of the fertile species Musa acuminata
Colla and M. balbisiana Colla. The Latin binomials M. nana Loureiro, M. sapientum L.,
and M. paradisiaca L. are commonly used as follows: M. nana for the "dwarf Caven-
dish", and M. sapientum for the taller bananas, which are generally eaten ripe, but which
are also cooked throughout the Pacific as starchy staples, and M. paradisiaca for the
starchier bananas or plantains, which are usually eaten cooked as a staple starch, but
occasionally eaten ripe as fruit. The nomenclature most widely used by agronomists is
that developed by Simmonds, which classifies all cultivars or clones on the basis of their
assumed genetic background, eg. Musa ABB Group would be a triploid cross of one M.
acuminata group and two M. balbisiana groups. Both nomenclature systems are presented
here to more precisely identify the clones that are currently present in Nauru.
Musa (AAA Group) Simmonds "banana", "Robusta" , "poyo" , "Mons Marie"
dabanana (N); te banana (K); fuainaoluga (T)
syns. M. sapientum L.; M. paradisiaca L. var. sapientum (L.) Kuntze; M.
paradisiaca L. ssp. sapientum (L.) Kuntze; M. acuminata Colla cvs
Pre-World War I1 introduction. S. E. Asia. Occasional. Clump- or stand-forming
giant perennial herb, up to 6 m tall, with green pseudostems (trunks) composed of leaf
sheaths; leaves, up to 2.5 m long and 75 cm wide, broad-bladed, broadly feather-shaped,
bright green, smooth, at first entire, but soon splitting like a feather along parallel side
veins, spirally arranged in a terminal crown through which the inflorescence emerges,
leaf stems and midribs thick; inflorescence, thick, stalk-like, terminal, and bearing male
flowers, in a large budlike tip with dark purplish-red scales, and female flowers along the
- -
stalk --- which - turn- -- into --A- large hanging fruit bunches; fruit, seedless, --- blunt-tipped, - - -- medium- -
thick-skinned, greenish-yellow, turning bright yellow on ripening; new pseudostems
sprout from base of old pseudostems which die or are cut after bearing fruit. Food plant
in Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati food gardens at Location and Topside workshops; occasional
in Nauruan and expatriate home gardens. Important food and export crop in many areas