Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses. The word "banana" came via Iberian from a West African language (possibly Wolof) circa 1597 and has since found its way into most Western languages. The scientific name for the genus is similar to and possibly derived from the Arabic, Persian mawz/mauz (موز) or Turkish (muz) names for the fruit.
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Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses. The word "banana" came via Iberian from a West African language (possibly Wolof) circa 1597 and has since found its way into most Western languages. The scientific name for the genus is similar to and possibly derived from the Arabic, Persian mawz/mauz (موز) or Turkish (muz) names for the fruit.
Though they grow as high as trees, banana and plantain plants are not woody and their apparent "stem" is just the bases of the huge leaf stalks. Thus they are technically gigantic herbs.
Musa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Giant Leopard Moth and other Hypercompe species including H. albescens (only recorded on Musa), H. eridanus and H. icasia.
The genus Musa was traditionally classified into five sections (Ingentimusa, Australimusa, Callimusa, Musa and Rhodochlamys) but these were reduced to...
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