Señorita banana
Encyclopedia
Señorita bananas are diploid cultivar
s of the banana
Musa acuminata
originating from the Philippines
. They are very small stout bananas which, like all bananas belonging to the AA cultivar group, are known for being extraordinarily sweet.
s of the wild seeded banana Musa acuminata
.
Its accepted name
is Musa acuminata Colla (AA Group) cv. 'Señorita'.
In the Philippines
it is known as 'Monkoy', 'Sarot-sut', 'Cariños' or 'Cariñosa', 'Arnibal' or 'Inarnibal' in Negros Occidental
(literally "syrup" in Hiligaynon
), and 'Lunsuranon' in Surigao. It is also known as 'Pisang Lampung' in Indonesia
.
It is also commonly known as the 'Forty day banana' (Filipino
/Spanish
: 'Cuarenta Dias', Malaysian
: 'Pisang Empat Puluh Hari'), a reference to the average amount of time between flowering and bearing fruits of this cultivar.
hangs vertically with red-purple bracts which are yellow or green on the inside surface. Male flowers are colored yellow and are persistent. The plant begins to flower at about 231 days after planting. The time period from flowering to harvesting is 54 days (hence its common name in the Philippines of "'Cuarenta dias").
The fruits are 85 mm in length, with a width of 34 mm. The fruits are straight with a rounded transverse section and a bottle-necked apex. Fruits are light green and turn a light yellow when ripe. The skin is very thin and easily cracks when overripe, they also tend to snap off the stems by themselves when ripe.
and Latundan
for dessert bananas, but they are still highly regarded for their exceptionally sweet taste and soft creamy flesh. They are seldom cultivated in large quantities due to their vulnerability to diseases and thus are more commonly found sold in small farmer stalls. They are popular treats for tourists visiting rural areas in the Philippines.
They are almost always eaten fresh, as their relative fragility makes it difficult to store or transport them over long distances. They are also rarely processed or used in cooking.
Cultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s of the banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
Musa acuminata
Musa acuminata
Musa acuminata is a species of wild banana native to Southeast Asia. It is the progenitor of modern edible bananas, along with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 years ago, it is one of the earliest examples of domesticated plants.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:Musa acuminata...
originating from the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. They are very small stout bananas which, like all bananas belonging to the AA cultivar group, are known for being extraordinarily sweet.
Taxonomy
Señorita bananas are diploid (AA) cultivarCultivar
A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...
s of the wild seeded banana Musa acuminata
Musa acuminata
Musa acuminata is a species of wild banana native to Southeast Asia. It is the progenitor of modern edible bananas, along with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 years ago, it is one of the earliest examples of domesticated plants.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:Musa acuminata...
.
Its accepted name
Binomial nomenclature
Binomial nomenclature is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin grammatical forms, although they can be based on words from other languages...
is Musa acuminata Colla (AA Group) cv. 'Señorita'.
In the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
it is known as 'Monkoy', 'Sarot-sut', 'Cariños' or 'Cariñosa', 'Arnibal' or 'Inarnibal' in Negros Occidental
Negros Occidental
Negros Occidental is a province of the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital is Bacolod City and it occupies the northwestern half of Negros Island; Negros Oriental is at the southeastern half...
(literally "syrup" in Hiligaynon
Hiligaynon language
Hiligaynon, often referred to as Ilonggo, is an Austronesian language spoken in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines.Hiligaynon is concentrated in the provinces of Iloilo, Negros Occidental and Capiz but is also spoken in the other provinces of the Panay Island group, including Antique,...
), and 'Lunsuranon' in Surigao. It is also known as 'Pisang Lampung' in Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
It is also commonly known as the 'Forty day banana' (Filipino
Filipino language
This move has drawn much criticism from other regional groups.In 1987, a new constitution introduced many provisions for the language.Article XIV, Section 6, omits any mention of Tagalog as the basis for Filipino, and states that:...
/Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
: 'Cuarenta Dias', Malaysian
Malaysian language
Malaysian or Standard Malay is the official language of Malaysia and a standardized form of the Malay language of the Austronesian family. It is over 80% cognate with Indonesian and is spoken natively by over 10 million people...
: 'Pisang Empat Puluh Hari'), a reference to the average amount of time between flowering and bearing fruits of this cultivar.
Description
Señorita bananas are some of the shortest banana cultivars, growing to a height of only 2.44 m with a pseudostem girth of 42 cm (at 1 m height). The pseudostem is green and shiny with a pink-purple underlying color. The leaves are very waxy with petioles that are sometimes bordered with pink-purple to red. The inflorescenceInflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
hangs vertically with red-purple bracts which are yellow or green on the inside surface. Male flowers are colored yellow and are persistent. The plant begins to flower at about 231 days after planting. The time period from flowering to harvesting is 54 days (hence its common name in the Philippines of "'Cuarenta dias").
The fruits are 85 mm in length, with a width of 34 mm. The fruits are straight with a rounded transverse section and a bottle-necked apex. Fruits are light green and turn a light yellow when ripe. The skin is very thin and easily cracks when overripe, they also tend to snap off the stems by themselves when ripe.
Uses
Fruits of the Señorita bananas are not as common as LacatanLacatan banana
Lacatan bananas , are diploid banana cultivars from the Philippines. It is one of the most common banana cultivars in the Philippines, along with the Latundan and Saba bananas.-Taxonomy and Nomenclature:...
and Latundan
Latundan banana
Latundan bananas , are triploid hybrid banana cultivars from the Philippines...
for dessert bananas, but they are still highly regarded for their exceptionally sweet taste and soft creamy flesh. They are seldom cultivated in large quantities due to their vulnerability to diseases and thus are more commonly found sold in small farmer stalls. They are popular treats for tourists visiting rural areas in the Philippines.
They are almost always eaten fresh, as their relative fragility makes it difficult to store or transport them over long distances. They are also rarely processed or used in cooking.
See also
- BananaBananaBanana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
- Banana cultivar groupsBanana cultivar groupsAlmost all modern edible banana and plantain cultivars are hybrids and polyploids of the wild, seeded bananas Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. They are almost always seedless and hence sterile, so they are propagated vegetatively...
- MusaMusa (genus)Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae; it includes bananas and plantains. There are over 50 species of Musa with a broad variety of uses....
- Musa acuminataMusa acuminataMusa acuminata is a species of wild banana native to Southeast Asia. It is the progenitor of modern edible bananas, along with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 years ago, it is one of the earliest examples of domesticated plants.-Taxonomy and nomenclature:Musa acuminata...