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

of the Pacific, especially in Tonga and Western Samoa, where bananas are a major
export crop, and in Tuvalu, where bananas are a major staple food. Not a traditional food
plant, and of only limited importance on Nauru. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7.
Musa (AAB Group) Simmonds "lady's finger banana", "pisang rajah" (Indonesia)
dabanana (N); te banana, te oraora (K); tamatamailima, inisi (T)
syns. Musa x paradisiaca L. var. hort. "Pisang raja" (M. acuminata Colla x
M. balbisiana Colla)
Pre-World War I1 introduction. S. India. Occasional. Clump- or stand-forming
giant perennial herb, up to 7 m tall, with bronze-green pseudostems (trunks) composed of
leaf sheaths; leaves, up to 3 m long and 80 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 large hanging fruit bunches; fruit, tightly-packed,
light-yellow, short, slightly rounded, plump, very thin-skinned, seedless; new pseudos-
tems sprout from base of old pseudostems which die or are cut after bearing fruit. Food
plant in Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati gardens at Location and Topside workshops. Eaten ripe
as a fruit throughout much of the Pacific and a very important staple in Samoa, where it
is cooked green. Not usually found in Nauruan gardens. 3, 5, 6, 7.
Musa (ABB Group) Simmonds "cooking banana", "plantain", " bluggoe"
dabanana (N); te banana, te umuumu (K); pata (T)
syns. Musa x paradisiaca L. var. hort. "Bluggoe" (M. acuminata Colla x M.
balbisiana Colla )
Pre-World War I1 introduction? S. E. Asia and Pacific. Common. Clump- or
stand-forming giant perennial herb, up to 6 m tall, with pale green pseudostem (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 large hanging fruit bunches; fruit,
light-green, waxy, thick-skinned, angular, with a tapering blunt-tip; new pseudostems
sprout from base of old pseudostems which die or are cut after bearing fruit. Food plant
in well --- mulched areas and planting boxes at Location and near Topside workshops in
Tuvaluan and FKiribati gardens. ImpOitafi tradTtiOn5l si@flemenws€%ple in many areas
of the Pacific, where it seems to be an aboriginally introduced cultivar and known as bata
or pata in Fiji and Polynesia respectively. The most common banana cultivar in Kiribati,
from where it may have been introduced into Nauru. Leaves and'pseudostem used