Tag: Musella
Musella is a genus comprising one or two species (Musella lasiocarpa, M. splendida) in the family Musaceae native to southeast Asia, including southwest China (Yunnan and Guizhou), Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. This taxon has caused and continues to cause problems for taxonomists and its status is still somewhat controversial.
The plant was first formally named by Franchet in 1889 who placed it in the genus Musa, as Musa lasiocarpa, but in a new section that he named Musella. In 1947, E. E. Cheesman examined herbarium material at Kew and on the evidence before him commented that “whatever it may be, it is certainly not a Musa, sensu stricto” and was not therefore prepared to separate the plant from Ensete. While noting that further study might find that the plant represented a new genus Cheesman thus created the combination Ensete lasiocarpum while reviving the genus Ensete in his 1947 paper.
Norman Simmonds (1960) disagreed with Cheesman although he acknowledged that the general…
