Ensete

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Genus of plants

title: "Ensete" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ensete", "crops-originating-from-ethiopia", "flora-of-the-indomalayan-realm", "musaceae", "root-vegetables", "staple-foods", "tropical-fruit", "tropical-agriculture", "zingiberales-genera"] description: "Genus of plants" topic_path: "general/ensete" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensete" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of plants ::

| oldest_fossil = Eocene | image = Ensete superbum.jpg | image_caption = Ensete superbum at the United States Botanic Garden | taxon = Ensete | authority = Bruce | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text

Ensete is a genus of monocarpic flowering plants native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the banana family, Musaceae, and includes the false banana or enset (E. ventricosum), an economically important food crop in Ethiopia.

Taxonomy

The genus Ensete was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (or Horaninov, 1796–1865) in his Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum of 1862 in which he created a single species, Ensete edule. However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the Kew Bulletin on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species.

Taxonomically, the genus Ensete has shrunk since Cheesman revived the taxon. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. Recently the number has increased to seven as the Flora of China has, not entirely convincingly, reinstated Ensete wilsonii. There is one species in Thailand, somewhat resembling E. superbum, that has not been formally described, and possibly other Asian species.

It is possible to separate Ensete into its African and Asian species.

;Africa :Ensete gilletii synonym Ensete livingstonianum - native range W. Tropical Africa to Malawi :[[File:Ensete glaucum 6zz.jpg|thumb|[[Ensete glaucum|Ensete glaucum]] (Snow banana)]]Ensete homblei - native range is SE. DR Congo to N. Zambia :Ensete perrieri – endemic to Madagascar but intriguingly like the Asian E. glaucum :Ensete ventricosum – enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia

;Asia :[[File:Ensete superbum 19.jpg|thumb|[[Ensete superbum|Ensete superbum]] (Ghat banana)]]Ensete glaucum – widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea :Ensete superbum – Western Ghats of India :Ensete wilsonii – Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct from E. glaucum :Ensete sp. "Thailand" – possibly a new species or a disjunct population of E. superbum

Extinct species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Ensete_ventricosum_-_Habitus_2.jpg" caption="''Ensete ventricosum'']] (Abyssinian banana)"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Clarno-Nut-Beds-Mural-Large.jpg" caption="url-access=subscription }}"] ::

Notes

Relevant literature

  • Borrell, James S., Mark Goodwin, Guy Blomme, Kim Jacobsen, Abebe M. Wendawek, Dawd Gashu, Ermias Lulekal, Zemede Asfaw, Sebsebe Demissew, and Paul Wilkin. "Enset‐based agricultural systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review of production trends, agronomy, processing and the wider food security applications of a neglected banana relative." Plants, People, Planet 2, no. 3 (2020): 212-228.

References

  1. (2019). "Enset in Ethiopia: a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple". Annals of Botany.
  2. (2008). "RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants". Dorling Kindersley.
  3. (1997). "Uses of Enset". [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]].
  4. Cheesman, E. E. 1947. Classification of the bananas. I. The genus ''Ensete'' Horan and the genus ''Musa'' L. Kew Bulletin (GBR), 2: 97-117
  5. (1993-11-01). "Fossil bananas (Musaceae): Ensete oregonense sp. nov. from the Eocene of western North America and its phytogeographic significance". American Journal of Botany.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

ensetecrops-originating-from-ethiopiaflora-of-the-indomalayan-realmmusaceaeroot-vegetablesstaple-foodstropical-fruittropical-agriculturezingiberales-genera