Why Bananas Matter: An introduction to the history of banana domestication

Langhe, Edmond De; Vrydaghs, Luc; Maret, Pierre de; Perrier, Xavier; Denham, Tim

doi:10.17348/era.7.0.165-177

Cited by 164 publications

(118 citation statements)

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“…They are still used by people; namely, they have continued cultural significance, e.g., for wrapping food (Sharrock 1990:152). However, it should be noted that these stands of M. balbisiana occur in northern coastal provinces of mainland New Guinea and New Britain 4 . If the species was native to New Guinea, why is the plant not more widespread within the flora of the region?…”

Section: Tracking Musa Balbisiana (Figure 3)mentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Several subspecies of M. acuminata, the source of the Agenome in most cultivated bananas, are present in a belt from North India, mainland and Island Southeast Asia, to New Guinea (De Langhe et al 2009). Each subspecies has a discrete geographical range, some of which are mutually exclusive (Figure 4).…”

Section: Tracking the Generation And Dispersal Of Edible Aa Cultivarsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The domestication process represents a long period of human selection, perhaps initially for a lot of different purposes and progressively for food, by exploiting latent pulp-enhancement phenotypic traits in some wild acuminata subspecies (Kennedy 2009). These "semicultivated" forms or "cultiwilds" (De Langhe et al 2009) were generated in the geographic areas within which the main M. acuminata subspecies occurred. However, the fully parthenocarpic edible AA, as they exist in the whole of ISEA-NG today, are hybrids associating genomes from two, and sometimes three, different M. acuminata subspecies ).…”

Section: The Generation Of Edible Aa In Isea-new Guineamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These sterile AAB plants survive and are spread through vegetative propagation, if found useful by people. In the case of both P and MP, the edible AA were derived from the M. acuminata subspecies banksii N.W.Simmonds, which is endemic to New Guinea and around (De Langhe et al 2009, Perrier et al 2011. It has been proposed that P and MP were among the first of the various AAB cultivar subgroups to be generated, before the formation of other AAB on mainland Eurasia (De Langhe & de Maret 1999).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been proposed that P and MP were among the first of the various AAB cultivar subgroups to be generated, before the formation of other AAB on mainland Eurasia (De Langhe & de Maret 1999). It has been demonstrated (De Langhe 2009) that the original areas of contact between M. balbisiana and edible AAs that led to the generation of P and MP can be situated in the abovementioned PSNG triangle.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Original Banana Split: Multi-disciplinary implications of the generation of African and Pacific Plantains in Island Southeast Asia

Langhe

Perrier²,

Donohue

et al. 2015

Ethnobot. Res. App.

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Traditional starchy banana cultivation in the humid tropics is dominated by two widespread, but geographically discrete, groups of AAB cultivars: plantains in Africa and maoli-popo`ulu in the Pacific. Both AAB subgroups exhibit exceptionally high cultivar diversity due to multiple somatic mutations, and yet both subgroups have relatively similar genetic origins. Although both cultivar groups originated within a region defined by the Philippines, Eastern Indonesia, and New Guinea, the precise area of origin for each AAB group within this region is different. Significantly, the distribution of each sub-group is mutually exclusive: traditional cultivation of maoli-popo`ulu cultivars is not attested to the West of the region and of plantain cultivars to the East. On the basis of botanical data, we argue that the original plantain hybrids were probably formed in the Philippines, while basic maoli-popo`ulu were formed in the Bismarck Archipelago and the Solomon Islands. The generation of these two AAB subgroups shed light on human interactions within Island Southeast Asia before 3000 cal BP, for which there is currently only limited archaeological evidence. The Banana "Split" and Its Historical ImplicationsTraditional starchy banana cultivation in the humid tropics is dominated by two very diverse subgroups of cultivars, especially in Africa and Oceania: 'AAB plantain' ( Figure 1A) and 'AAB maoli-popo`ulu' (Figure 1B). Both cultivar subgroups are triploid hybrids of Musa acuminata Colla (A) and Musa balbisiana Colla (B). We adopt here the acronyms "P" for the AAB plantain-subgroup and "MP" for the AAB maoli-popo`ulu subgroup. Other traditional AAB exist in Oceania, especially in New Guinea, but these are

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Section: Tracking Musa Balbisiana (Figure 3)mentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Tracking the Generation And Dispersal Of Edible Aa Cultivarsmentioning

confidence: 99%