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Originally Posted by Kevin
Gabe 15 - Wow! Thanks for explaning that. It seems very complicated. What I was looking for, was, to use my Dwarf Orinoco as an example, would it be possible to re-create this? If someone had all the species at their disposal, and nothing else, would it be possible to re-create any of the known banana cultivars? It would probably take some time, with hybridizing and such, but I'm just trying to find a 'family tree', but it seems that doesn't exist. Are any bananas registered with any naming system like the RHS? Are all bananas able to be cross-bred with each other?
Another question, is how can you tell the difference between different species, hybrids and cultivars? Do they need to be in fruit before you can tell?
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None of the edible bananas can be recreated, except maybe the modern hybrids (because you could perform the same crosses again, but it would still be a slim chance you would get the same plant, and even then they would still technically be different). The traits that make the different cultivars unique are the results of mutation and human selection, not of hybridization.
There is no list of official registered banana names, but rather there are well informed lists of synonyms of common names by region. If you understand how banana taxonomy and genetics work as well, then you can tentatively classify plants and connect the dots of whats a new synonym or see when plants are mislabeled (usually by being called a common name of a different cultivar).
There are many characteristics that differ between plants. For an idea of the kinds of things that can be different, look at this document. It is the list of standard descriptors that was developed for triploid A and A+B edible cultivars. Currently we are working on developing a complete descriptors list that would work for almost any banana plant (wild or cultivated).
http://bananas.bioversityinternation...riptors_en.pdf
Quote:
Originally Posted by jasonlotp
So there are Feh'i bananas that are edible? Anyone here tasted them or have more info on them?
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All fe'i bananas are edible, because fe'i bananas are inherently edible Australimusa. Wild Australimusa are not fe'i.