Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Hello all!

In 2016 I went touring Sarawak and in my travels in a Dayak village I found a banana clump that was around 4m tall and had mat dark green leafs compared to the rest of the clumps. For some reason I liked it and asked the family to buy a pup. They gave me a shovel and took out a small pup.

This banana grew well for me and gave me clump with around 6m tall pseudostems and large bunches. Due to lack of time I didn’t ask here on its ID… till now!

I would very much like to know what variety this is. I have uploaded some photos to show you and any more you need I can take or find in my older photos
Ripe banana bunch on my banana clump, 6meters high up the trees


Bunch. The left bunch seen is a Pisang Awak bunch from the false Ice cream


Full bunch with male inflorescence still on, fresh after collection


Photo of a young plant of this variety. You can see it has closed petiole canals


Any other photo you need for a proper ID, let me know. The fruits have relatively thick peels, much thicker peeled than pisang awak fruits and are very sweet tasting. Flesh is firm and color is whitish to off white yellowish in full maturity. No seeds of course

Thank you very much in advance!

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

To my eyes it seems to be Pisang Awak/Namwa, and I'll walk through my thought process.

Petiolar canal- closed
Bracts- lifting with minimal rolling
Bunch density/position- relatively compact with some spacing between hands
Pedicel (the stalks where individual fingers attach) basal fusion- appears to be fused knuckles, better pic might help
Male flower pigmentation- creamy pink, better pic would be very helpful to confirm

From petiolar canal, can narrow it down to a handful of subgroups: Saba, Bluggoe, Ney Mannan, and Pisang Awak. Saba cultivars typically have very compact bunches, so can rule it out. The pedicel appears to have fused instead of defined knuckles, ruling out Bluggoe and Ney Mannan (Blue Java). The male flowers being a light pink is more aligned with Pisang Awak types, since Bluggoe and Ney Mannan have more richly pigmented male flowers. As for the peel being thicker, it's an inconsistent trait and could be influenced by environment/nutrition.

That's about the best explanation I can give, maybe a more seasoned member will have a different conclusion.

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Thank you very much for your reply!

The pedicel is visible in the photo i am holding the bunch and in a few photos i will be posting as soon as they load

I will try to find a photo of the flowers and post it here.

Both this bunch and the bunch of a false Ice cream/Namwah i presume, ripened together, in the same conditions. The Namwah has very thin peel, this one has much thicker peel. Taste of fruits is different always too. The way the fruits are arranged on the bunch is also different as is the fruit shape. I dont know for sure if the false Ice Cream is a Namwah, so i will try to find flowering photos and start a thread for it too. To me it looks like any other member's false Ice cream, which have been IDed as Namwah

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Developing bunch


Female flowers


Male flowers

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Yep, the picture you labeled "female flowers" shows a trait pretty specific to Pisang Awak types (as far as I know.) The pedicels are purplish when freshly emerged, but that color doesn't last very long after emergence. Wasn't sure about the knuckles from previous pic, details got messed up by image compression.

Your guess on your false Ice Cream's identity is probably correct. Because they're good in so many ways, Pisang Awak types are propagated extensively. As a result of random mutations adding up over time in the different lineages, there's a lot of sub-cultivars out there. It's like a game of telephone where the message is slowly changed as it passes between people.

I'm doubtful on the accuracy of some info in this seller's website, but it does showcase examples of several Namwa variants:
https://www.bkinterplants.com/index....usa-fruit.html

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Thank you very much for your reply!

The pedicels on this one are yellow i think, i dont remember seeing purple or dark colored ring on this one.

Yes i understand the concept of somatic mutations in banana plants, i am a pharmacist. I love all the variety that has been created through them naturally :)

I am preparing a photo set of the false Ice cream as well, that one does have pronounced purple pedicels and very colorful flowers. The bracts of the inflorescence of the false ice cream are pink/reddish while this one from Borneo has purple bracts with bright crimson red inside

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

It's a pretty faint purple in the photo you uploaded, probably the color fading since it's been exposed for a while. Could also just be me misinterpreting lighting in the photo, like that blue/black dress meme.

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

I have no idea...

The flowers though are totally different color from the false Ice Cream. What color flowers are Pisang Awak supposed to have?

Re: Edible Musa collected in Sarawak Borneo
 

Looked through my reference material, found some color variation between pinkish and reddish for Namwa. Like the somatic mutations you mentioned, I wouldn't be too surprised if Pisang Awak types can have multiple flower colors.

It's already a thing for a couple of beloved Pome cultivars, Raja Puri and Dwarf Brazilian. They're difficult to distinguish unless you're in the very brief window where the female flowers are fresh. Raja Puri is bright red whereas Dwarf Brazilian is more creamy/pink.