Musa ingens
{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Musa ingens 2.jpg
| status = LC
| status_system = IUCN3.1
| genus = Musa
| species = ingens
| authority = N. W. Simmonds
}}
The plant species Musa ingens, also known as the giant highland banana or Oem,{{cite journal |author-link=N. W. Simmonds |first1=N.W. |last1=Simmonds |title=Notes on Banana Taxonomy |journal=Kew Bulletin |volume=14 |issue=2 |year=1960 |pages=198-212 |doi=10.2307/4114778}} is the physically largest member of the family Musaceae and the only member of the section Ingentimusa. Growing in the tropical montane forests of New Guinea - Arfak Mountains Regency in Indonesia, its leaves can reach a length of {{cvt|5|m}} and a width of {{cvt|1|m|in}}.Notes from Royal Bot. Garden Edinburgh Vol. 35 # 1 (1976) pp. 111-112 This, the largest herbaceous plant on earth, was completely unknown to science prior to 1960.
Description
The "trunk" (actually the tightly rolled petioles (or stalks) of its leaves; the longest petioles of any known plant) is typically up to {{cvt|15|m}} in height, and with the leaves having a total height of {{cvt|20|m}}. Since its discovery in 1954, though, taller individuals up to {{cvt|30|m}} have been reported,{{cite web |url=http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_Ingens |title = Musa Ingens - Bananas Wiki}} but these measurements have yet to be confirmed by a specific scientific study. Photos exist of M. ingens "trunks" up to {{cvt|94|cm}} in diameter at breast height. Its fruit grows in a cluster weighing up to {{cvt|60|kg}} consisting of about twenty "hands" (cymes) of 16 to 20 fruits each. This cluster is borne on a peduncle up to {{cvt|10|cm|0}} thick and up to {{cvt|15|m}} in length, again the longest of any known plant. The large inflorescence can hold over 300 oblong fruits, {{cvt|18|cm|0}} long, that are filled with blackish-brown seeds and yellowish pulp that is edible, sweet, and delicious when cooked, and according to some, reminiscent of fine butternut squash mixed with a sweet banana with a dash of tangy lime and citrus added.{{cite web |url=https://www.rarepalmseeds.com/musa-ingens |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309063125/https://www.rarepalmseeds.com/musa-ingens |archive-date=2021-03-09 |title=Musa ingens – Giant Highland Banana – Buy seeds at rarepalmseeds.com}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/musa_ingens.htm
- [http://www.thestatworld.com/2015/12/musa-ingens-the-tallest-banana-plant-in-world.html "Musa Ingens - The Tallest Banana Plant in the World"]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1313674}}