Musa seemannii F. J. H. von Mueller Fragmenta Phytographić Australić 9: 190 (1875).
Accepted name none - undetermined cultivated form of a Fe'i banana. Synonyms 1. Musa uranoscopus Seem., Fl. Vit.: 290 (1868).
2. Musa rubra K. Scherzer, Reise der Österreichischen Fregatte Novara. Theil, Wien (1861-2).
Authorities The synonym are from:
1. von Mueller, Fragmenta Phytographić Australić 9: 190 (1875).
2. Kurz, J. Agric. Hort. Soc. Ind. 14: 297 (1866).
The World Checklist of Monocotyledons gives Musa seemannii F.Muell., Fragm. 9: 190 (1875) as a synonym of Musa uranoscopus Seem., Fl. Vit.: 290 (1868), sensu auct and Musa troglodytarum L., Sp. Pl. ed. 2: 1477 (1763) which is listed as an accepted name.
Section Australimusa Distribution Fiji. Description References Anon 1906 : 18, 19 (illus.), Baker 1893, Kurz 1866 : 297, Kurz 1877 : 163, von Mueller 1875 : 190, Stover & Simmonds 1987.
F. J. H. von Mueller, Fragmenta phytographić Australić, 9: 190 (1875 [not 1879 as indicated at botanicus and BHL]) is at http://www.botanicus.org/page/764461 or at http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/764461
Comments Musa seemanni is the name given by von Mueller to the banana named Musa uranoscopos by Seemann in his Flora Vitiensis. The name was applied by Seamann to a group of "wild" or occasionally cultivated Fe'i type bananas grown for fruit in Fiji. Kurz (1866) notes Musa rubra K. Scherzer "appears to be the same "species". Fe'i type bananas are thought to have originated by hybridisation of a range of species possibly including Musa maclayi, Musa jackeyi, Musa angustigemma, Musa peekelii and possibly others as yet undescribed. Stover & Simmonds caution that the Fe'i bananas are so poorly understood that the application of Latin binomials to them is "unwise".
last updated 01/05/2008