I think a simple easy database could work, but it needs more pictures per plant. These do not have to be complicated, something as simple as bract color can easily help you identify plants, and if you can get pictures of the female flowers, why not add pictures of a few other descriptors such as male
bud shape, peduncle color, bunch orientation....many of these could even be combined into single photos.
If I were to make up a simple key to identifying bananas, it might go something like this.
1. a. bunches erect, go to 2.
b. bunches pendent or horizontal, go to 3.
2. a. bracts polished, go to 4.
b. bracts not polished, go to 5.
c. persistant yellow bracts, hairy green fruit...Musella lasiocarpa
3. a. seed in fruit, go to 6.
b. seedless fruit, go to 9.
4. YOU HAVE A CALLIMUSA. (have pictures of each species you can buy)
a. persistant red bracts with yellow tips...Musa coccinea
b. non-persistant red bracts with yellow tips, green fruit...Musa beccarii
5. YOU HAVE A RHODOCHLAMYS. (more pictures of each for reference)
a. green fruit, orange/pink bracts with yellow tips...Musa laterita
b. green fruit, pink/purple bracts...Musa ornata
c. green fruit, yellow/cream bracts...Musa siamensis
d. pink fuzzy fruit, pink bracts...Musa velutina
e. there are lots of these... so im stopping here
6. a. suckers at base, go to 7.
b. no suckers produced, go to 8.
7. YOU HAVE A WILD EUMUSA.
a. green/yellow bracts, wings on petiole...Musa basjoo
b. bracts purple on outside, red on inside, rounded leaf bases...Musa balbisiana
c. leaves red underneath, red stripes on top, green fruit...Musa acuminata subsp. zebrina
d. leaves red underneath, red stripes on top, red fruit...Musa acuminata subsp. sumatrana
e. purple bracts, green fruit, large smooth black seeds...Musa sikkimensis
8. YOU HAVE AN ENSETE.
a. waxy green plant, green bracts...Ensete glaucum
b. waxy green plant, purple bracts...Ensete superbum
c. waxless green plant with red midribs, red bracts...Ensete ventricosum
d. waxless red plants with green margins, red bracts...Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'
9. YOU HAVE AN EDIBLE EUMUSA
a. rounded leaf bases....go to 10.
b. non rounded leaf bases.... go to 11.
10. YOU HAVE AN ABB.
a. big ass plant (20-30ft), rounded male bud, plump angled fruit...Musa 'Saba'
b. large plant (10-15ft), bluish green angled fruit...Musa 'Ice Cream'
c. medium sized plant (10-12ft), few hands of green strongly angled fruit... Musa 'Orinoco'
d. small plant (4-6ft), few hands of green strongly angled fruit...Musa 'Dwarf Orinoco'
c. fused fingers...Musa 'Praying Hands'
11. okay, im going to stop now
