Musa maclayi

Musa maclayi is a species of seeded banana native to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands.^[1] It is placed in section Callimusa (now including the former section Australimusa).^[3] It is regarded as one of the progenitors of the Fe'i banana cultivars.^[4]

Musa maclayi
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Musaceae
Genus:	Musa
Section:	Musa sect. Callimusa
Species:	M. maclayi
Binomial name
Musa maclayi F.Muell. ex Mikl.-Maclay[2]

The plant has red sap and an upright flowering and fruiting stem.^[5] The fruits are rounded and arranged closely together in bunches – partly joined along their edges in some varieties.^[4]

The species was named after the explorer and naturalist Nicholas Miklouho-Maclay, who first described it:

"Besides the cultivated varieties, which have been obtained by exchange between the villages, there is to be found in the forest a wild Banana (Musa Maclayi F. v. M. [Ferdinand von Mueller]), compared to the cultivated varieties, with a tall stem (nearly twice as tall), with narrow stiff leaves and small (not edible) fruits full of seeds."

— N. Miklouho-Maclay^[6]

Subspecies

Two subspecies^[5][7] and two varieties^[7] are known:

• Musa maclayi subsp. ailuluai Argent
• Musa maclayi subsp. maclayi (autonym)
• Musa maclayi var. erecta (Simmonds) Argent
• Musa maclayi var. namatani Argent