Sweet banana species, Musa Indandamanensis, discovered in tropical rain forest of Andaman Islands

Scientists at the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) discovered a new species of banana, named Musa Indandamanensis, from a remote tropical rain forest on the Andaman Islands.

The species was located about 16 kilometers inside the Krishna Nalah forest in the island. Bananas of this species are very sweet in taste and are eaten by tribal people of the island.

Features of Musa Indandamanensis
• It is a distinct global species with unique green flowers and fruit bunch lux (axis) thrice the size of a regular banana species.
• The fruit pulp of the species is orange in colour, which is distinctive from the white and yellow colour of regular bananas.
• Trees of this species are about 11 meter high, whereas, the regular species are about three to four meters high.
• The fruit lux of the species is about one metres, which is thrice the size of regular species.
• The flowers of the species are cylindrical, whereas, the flowers of other banana species are conical.
• Unlike other common species, the seeds can be used for germinating new plants.

The details of Musa Indandamanensis species of banana was published in Taiwana, an international journal on taxonomy and life sciences.

At present, about 52 species of banana are reported to occur in the wild across the world of which 15 are reported to be in India.

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