Musa acuminata Colla. var. Cavendish group

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘The banana is a well-known edible fruit, the product of cultivated varieties of either Musa sapientum, Musa Cavendishii, or Musa acuminata.  The first-named is cultivated extensively for the export of the fruit in Jamaica and Central America; M. Cavendishii is grown largely in the Canary Isles, and is generally known as the Canary or Chinese banana; M. acuminata is grown in the Malay Region as well as M. sapientum.

In the earliest account of the West Indies, the “bonana,” as it was spelt, was clearly distinguished from the plantain (Musa paradisiaca); but in the Old World, the fruits of these two plants are often both called plantains.  The plants are very much alike, but in the fruiting stage they can readily be distinguished by the novice the fruiting-stalk of banana plants being naked between the fruit and the large purple knob of sterile flowers at its apex, while the fruiting -stalk of the plantain does not lengthen much, and the sterile flowers do not all drop off, so that the stalk is fairly covered.’  [Fawcett – The Banana p.2/1913].

Introduced to Britain in 1829 by Charles Telfair.  [MB p.51/1846].  ‘Cavendishii, from fruiting at a small size, is the most valuable [Musad].’  [JD].  ‘M. cavendishii does not grow more than 4 or 5 feet high, so that anyone possessing a moderate sized house may, with a very little trouble, be rewarded by abundance of its excellent fruit.’  [PD].   Figured in Rumphius – Herbarium Amboinense vol.5, t.61/1741-50.

History at Camden Park

Listed in the 1850 and 1857 catalogues [B.327/1850].  It was possibly obtained from Loddiges’ nursery as it was included among desiderata in a letter dated 16th April 1846 [MP A2933-1, p.147].  A single plant of a ‘Tahitian Yellow Banana’ was presented to the Sydney Botanic Garden on September 27th 1847 [RBGS AB].  This was almost certainly sent to Camden from Tahiti by John Bidwill and this shipment may also be the origin of Macarthur’s Musa Cavendishii. 

Notes