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Old 08-17-2005, 12:13 PM   #2 (permalink)
JoeReal
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Default Re: M. acuminata sdc

I may have remembered these incorrectly but from memory, these are the general things that comes mind about your question:

The third name is usually the name of the person who first designated the name of the species, or the place or botanist honored, etc, ie, the most common is Linneaus. If the third name is enclosed in quotes, then that is the name of the cultivar.

To tell you frankly, the naming of bananas is the most chaotic and problematic of all species. There seems to be no consensus on how to scientifically name bananas of various cultivars.

Most of the bananas that are edible came from polyploid hybrids between the Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana groups, so many would argue that most bananas should be named as Musa acuminata x balbisiana. Although there are various Musa species aside from acuminata and balbisiana and possibly some edible types come also as hybrids of other species grouping aside from these two.

So as a convention for me, I would follow Musa 'variety name' [AAB]. The letters in bracket are optional for me, since I can look these up quickly, but they are a reminder about ploidy levels and to designate how many chromosomes come from acuminata and how many from balbisiana.

Last edited by JoeReal : 08-17-2005 at 04:47 PM.
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