327 - 11th Botany Textbook Volume 1

Economic Importance of The Family Musaceae
S.No Economic
Binomial Useful part Uses
importance
1 Food plant Musa paradisiaca. The raw (tender
green) bananas, the
Cooked and eaten
as vegetable.
shaft and male buds.
Leaves
Commonly used
as plates on festive
occasions and are
widely used to
wrap food items
Fruit
when cooking.
Crunchy and salty
fried plantain chips
are delicious.
Flower stalk (Shaft) Edible after
Ensete ventricosa
cooking.
2. Medicinal
plant
Musa chinensis
(Chinea kela)
Musa spp.
Fruits
Sap obtained from
the sheathy leaf
base.
Edible bananas
which are sweet,
rich in starch and
vitamins.
Considered to be
an antidote for
cobra bite.
3. Starch Ensete ventricosum
(Ethiopean banana)
4. Fibre yielding
plant
5. Ornamental
plant
Musa textilis
(Manila hemp)
Musa coccinea
(a wild banana species).
(M. acuminata, M.
velutina and M. ornata)
Ensete ventricosum
The swollen basal
parts of leaf sheaths
Fibre
Plant
Used as a source
of starch and
vitamins.
Fibre is woven and
made into abaca
cloth, also used for
twine, bagging and
wrapping paper.
Have ornamental
scarlet flowers.
Cultivated as
ornamentals
Continued
215