Musaceae

Musaceae is a botanical family composed of flowering plants. It is a relatively small botanical family with only three genera and almost ninety species. These plants are native to the African and Asian continents but are now grown worldwide. Their growth patterns are primarily herbaceous. Their leaves overlap and are attached to the plant’s basal sheath at a point called the pseudostem. The formation of the pseudostem gives these plants a woody appearance. Bananas are amongst the most important commercial plants that belong to this family, and several other members are used as ornamental plants.

Morphology of the Musaceae Family

Musaceae are huge, regularly treelike perpetual species, including two genera and around 45 species. The Musaceae family is placed in the order zingiberaceous. These plants originated from the wetlands of eastern Asia. Their pseudostems are conical and slender and formed with the help of leaves arranged in a spiral pattern, and the sheaths overlap each other and form a crown-like structure on top. Leaves can range up to three metres long and almost half a metre wide and show parallel venation with a  prominent midrib. The plants have a woody appearance and possess red or purple leaf-like bracts. If grown in an unsheltered place, external environmental factors can cause tears in the leaves, giving them a ragged and wavy appearance. They possess leaf-like bracts that are red or purple. Their flowers, which have five male reproductive organs, are rich in nectar, which helps attract pollinating agents. Some flowers have ornamental value and inedible fruits. 

Taxonomic Categorisation of the Musaceae Family

The leaves are exceptionally large, with proximal concentric, appressed sheathing segments involving a pseudotrunk from which singular petioles and edges veer. The cutting edges are basic, with an unmistakable midrib and various penni-equal parallel veins. An inflorescence pivot emerging from the corm develops vertically through the channel framed by the covering leaf bases and delivers a terminal series of enormous covering bracts, and each subtends and conceals a cymose bunch of roses. 

The Musa and Ensete genera are the only two genera of this family that produce edible fruit; the rest produce inedible fruit. Bananas are among the main crops of this family, with worldwide yearly growth of around 50 million tons. Approximately 1,000 banana plants yield 20–25 tons of pseudostems producing around 5% consumable starch.

Reproductive Organs of the Musaceae Flower

The leaves are dazzling green on the sides, 1.5 m long, 45 cm wide, with an exceptionally short, profoundly diverted free petiole. The bracts are orbicular, dim earthy red, 30 cm long and expansive, and subtend thick biseriate pushes every one of 10–15 blossoms. The ovary is white, round, hollow, and 2.5 cm long. 

The external perianth is whitish, arranged along with the ovary, three-lobed, or shaped by three freely sound portions. The inward perianth is more limited than the external and is tricuspidate with a long, direct focal cusp. The plant has an enormous baseband red blossom head with wide leaves, and its profound mid-ribs add to its allure and worth. 

As every cyme arrives at anthesis, the subtending bract reflexes uncover blossoms and abscesses from the inflorescence hub. The androecium typically comprises five rich stamens and a staminode that is inverse of the free tepal. The gynoecium comprises a solitary compound pistil of three carpels, a solitary style, and a sub-par ovary with three locules containing various axile ovules. The fruit is a berry, usually with a distinct, rugged exocarp.

Conclusion

Musaceae is a botanical family of three different genera and 90 different species. These plants were native to the African and Asian continents but are cultivated worldwide. They are known for having a fake stem that is made from leaves. Some plants produce edible fruit. Banana is the most famous plant belonging to this family.