Musa acuminata in Northern Borneo: preliminary report

The first author, Markku Hakkinen, has been studying the sections Callimusa and Rhodochlamys of the genus Musa for several years. During a visit to Borneo, the center of Callimusa diversity, he took many photos of Musa acuminata. The second author, Edmond De Langhe, who is familiar with the diversity in M. acuminata, found the photos of such a quality that he has attempted at a tentative taxonomic identification of the plants. He noted the domination of a complex wild acuminata population with microcarpa and/or truncata traits. The two supposed subspecies may actually form one large and compound population. The occurrence of a white-bud variety is a new observation. The occurrence of a number of acuminata with pink-purple bracts that are moderately to strongly imbricated also calls for more investigation, since some of them may well be truly wild plants. Another finding is the presence of large, wild-looking fields of at least two edible AA cultivars. These findings have a preliminary and tentative character since they are based on the study of photos only, however excellent the latter are.