Question

Describe Musa paradisiaca in technical terms. Draw its floral diagram and write the floral formula.

Answer 1

Musa paradisiaca

Habit: Gigantic, monocarpic, perennial herb

Root: Fibrous, adventitious, root system

Stem: Real stem is underground rhizome. The aerial pseudostem is formed by the long, stiff and sheathy leaf bases, which are rolled around one another to form erect, unbranched pseudostem.

The central axis of the pseudostem is the shaft. This is concealed. At the time of flowering, the shaft elongates, pierces through the pseudostem and produces an inflorescence terminally.

Leaf: Simple with strong petiole. The leaf blade is large, broad with sheathy leaf base. The leaf is exstipulate and obtuse. Phyllotaxy is spiral venation is pinnately parallel.

Inflorescence: Branched spadix. Flowers are protected by large, brightly coloured, boat-shaped bracts called spathes. At the time of flowering, the spathes roll back and finally ball off.

Flowers: Bracteate, Ebracteolate, sessile, trimerous unisexual or bisexual unisexual the flowers are monoecious. Flowers are zygomorphic and epigynous.

Perianth: Six tepals arranged in two whorls of 3 each. The three tepals of the outer whorl and the two lateral tepals of the inner whorl are fused by valvate aestivation to form five toothed tube-like structure. Inner posterior petal is free broad and membranous.