Black sheep of the banana family?
 

I do not see many posts on Musa Ebun Muzak. Is this banana not a very popular banana. I would guess that since the fruit matures green, it may be more difficult to know when it is ripe. I acquired a flat of these at Agri-Starts several years ago when I was down there. They were on sale. Since that time, I have grown them to decent size and gave them away at the Farmer's Market to good customers. The city of Winchester was full of Ebun muzak's that summer. I still have several dozen. My bedroom is overgrown with three big pots of them. They apparently like their location, as they are growing like crazy. I have a photo in my gallery. I couldn't get it to display here, even after following the directions...duh.

Maybe I will get some blooms on these later this summer and attempt to get bananas inside...not too easy, I guess. They are attractive banana plants with red blotches in full sun.

Ed

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Tall, skinny, not real cold tolerant. Has fruited once, small bunch on very nice fruit.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Here you go, ED!
Labeled: Six Foot tall Ebun Muzak


Very nice!

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

I don't think its that nobody likes them or that they are not popular for fruit, its just that there are so many varieties out there that not all of them can be common. The very fact that you can buy it as tissue cultures in the US makes it much less rare than many other bananas out there.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

It has been my experience with Ebun Musak that it takes the cold better than many other cultivars. This is based on freezes where these plants were subjected to the same conditions as 17 other cultivars. They were damaged less initially and did not declined after the extreme temperatures. It takes the cold well.

My experience in the Tropical Fruit Industry indicates to me that any fruit that is not brightly colored is not well received by many in the U.S. market. Taste is only a driving force if visual preconceptions are overcome. People of other cultures however are not so inhibited by drab color.:2239:

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

You are absolutely right. This applies to other food besides tropical fruit. The flesh of salmon raised in fish farms in the Atlantic is an unappealing whitish gray. The fish farmers have to add food coloring to make the flesh salmon-colored so that they can sell it. Farm-raised trout sold in "health" food stores are fed shrimp to make it more pink.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Over here, the Ebun Musak aka Pisang Jari Buaya aka Cocodile Fingers 'Naner is a lost cultivar even though it's very good tasting. It lost out to the staple cultivars such as the Pisang Mas and Pisang Berangan due to the few and much smaller fruits it produces. Now it can only be found in the fruit stalls of the kampongs (villages) where it is a comfort food. So sad.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Thank you Tog Tan!!

I have been unable to figure out what the ITC# of this cultivar is, but the information you provided will help narrow it down. If this cultivar is in the Pisang Jari Buaya group that places it as Musa accuminata malaccensis, does it not? Could I conclude correctly that this is an AA banana?

I am seeking good progenators to acheive a supermale. If Ebun Musak is indeed an AA, I am joyful!! :2767:

Thank everyone for your input into this thread. It is highly appreciated!!!:2239:

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Tog,
If Ebun Musak/Pisang Jari Buaya produce fewer and smaller fruits, then it must not be a direct equivalent to the Buñgulan/Monte Cristo. Buñgulan in the Philippines produces the exact same size bananas as the Gran Naine in the grocery stores. Same length, diameter, and thick skin. The main differences are the Buñgulan have very sweet fruit and green when ripe.

Here are some photos, including of the fruits:


Those are full size bananas, folks!

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

'Bungulan' is a Cavendish, very different from these other plants we are talking about, perhaps you mixed up 'Pisang Berangan' with 'Bungulan'.

I have never heard of 'Ebun Musak' being equated with 'Monkey Fingers', but I know that 'Monkey Fingers' is associated with 'Pisang Jari Buaya' ('Crocodile Fingers'). 'Ebun Musak' seems to be rather obscure and I am having trouble tracking down any usable information about it. I suppose it could be in the Pisang Jari Buaya subgroup, but without any references it is hard to say where it belongs.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Gabe,
The reason Ebun Musak is equated to Monkey Fingers is probably because in the Agristarts website description of this variety ihey allege that it is "nicknamed crocodile fingers". Crocodile Fingers in Malaysian is Jari Buaya (buaya being the Indo-Malayan word for crocodile, including Tagalog and a dozen other Philippine languages). There is a Pisang Jari Buaya, and thus the assumption is that they are the same.

Further reading leads me to the Hawaii Banana Synonyms tables that says that Bungulan is synonymous to Embun, Monte Cristo, Pisang Ambun Lumot ("dew algae"), Pisang Masak Hijau. Ebun in various Philippine languages could mean either "egg" or "bird", depending on the region. "Embun" could be "Ambun" in various Malayan dialects, which translates to "dew". Hence, I don't think that Ebun Musak and Jari Buaya are the same variety. They may only be similar in that they remain green when ripe. Ebun Musak is not listed in the Pacific Bananas Synonyms, Hawaii Banana Synonyms, nor the Pacific Banana-Plantain Overview publications.

According to some references, Crocodle Fingers is synonymous to Monkey fingers in HI, although the Agristarts site distinguishes between the two. Crocodile fingers, or Jari Buaya is called Morong Datu (Muslim Chief) in the Philippines. This alone tells me that Buñgulan and Morong Datu (Jari Buaya) are not the same.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Well the fact that Pisang Jari Buaya and Bungulan are not the same is well known, the former being a rather distinct diploid and the alter being a well documented member of the Cavendish subgroup. I've come to the same conclusion as you that it is hard to track down exactly what Ebun Musak is. Agri-Starts just sells plants, I would not take any info they put out as fact (especially their bananas), I know their new catalog is riddled with errors. If the picture they give for Ebun Musak is a valid representation of the plant they are selling under that name, then it is obviously not Pisang Jari Buaya, and thus not what is commonly called Monkey Fingers.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Thanks Gabe. I always took certain names by the dealers such as A-S for granted and have equated the differences in form, etc as being a different sport of the same thing. The Pisang Jari Buaya is very close to the M acuminata in fruit shape and taste. More like a seedless form of the M-a. I have seen the Thai equivalent known as Kluay Neu Cherekeh (Neu=Fingers, Cherekeh=Croc) and it looks the same as the Pisang J-B. This is a slim, smallish plant (Small M-a look alike) and not as the pix I have seen on A-S which is very robust. The fruits are about 6 in, slim and recurved like a talon. The whole hand or comb (as we call it here) looks like the hand of an animal.
Sorry guys, I don't have any pix of the mature plts or fruits as I have only 2 pups from a friend.

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

Thank you gentlemen!!

This much more information than I have gleened from the MGIS website's publications and cultivar list, on Ebun Musak.

This is very helpful to me and GREATLY appreciated!!!!:2239:

Re: Black sheep of the banana family?
 

The MGIS is an amazing resource, but it is a work in progress and relatively incomplete, so its not uncommon for it to lack info on some cultivar names.