Research directed by C. Daehler (UH Botany) with funding from the Kaulunani Urban Forestry Program and US Forest Service

Information on Risk Assessments
Original risk assessment

Musa acuminata (Cavendish banana)

Answer

1.01

Is the species highly domesticated?

y=-3, n=0

y

1.02

Has the species become naturalized where grown?

y=-1, n=-1

n

1.03

Does the species have weedy races?

y=-1, n=-1

n

2.01

Species suited to tropical or subtropical climate(s) (0-low; 1-intermediate; 2-high) – If island is primarily wet habitat, then substitute “wet tropical” for “tropical or subtropical”

See Append 2

2

2.02

Quality of climate match data (0-low; 1-intermediate; 2-high) see appendix 2

2

2.03

Broad climate suitability (environmental versatility)

y=1, n=0

y

2.04

Native or naturalized in regions with tropical or subtropical climates

y=1, n=0

y

2.05

Does the species have a history of repeated introductions outside its natural range? y=-2

?=-1, n=0

y

3.01

Naturalized beyond native range y = 1*multiplier (see Append 2), n= question 2.05

n

3.02

Garden/amenity/disturbance weed y = 1*multiplier (see Append 2)

n=0

n

3.03

Agricultural/forestry/horticultural weed y = 2*multiplier (see Append 2)

n=0

n

3.04

Environmental weed y = 2*multiplier (see Append 2)

n=0

n

3.05

Congeneric weed y = 1*multiplier (see Append 2)

n=0

n

4.01

Produces spines, thorns or burrs

y=1, n=0

n

4.02

Allelopathic

y=1, n=0

n

4.03

Parasitic

y=1, n=0

n

4.04

Unpalatable to grazing animals

y=1, n=-1

n

4.05

Toxic to animals

y=1, n=0

n

4.06

Host for recognized pests and pathogens

y=1, n=0

y

4.07

Causes allergies or is otherwise toxic to humans

y=1, n=0

n

4.08

Creates a fire hazard in natural ecosystems

y=1, n=0

n

4.09

Is a shade tolerant plant at some stage of its life cycle

y=1, n=0

y

4.1

Tolerates a wide range of soil conditions (or limestone conditions if not a volcanic island)

y=1, n=0

y

4.11

Climbing or smothering growth habit

y=1, n=0

n

4.12

Forms dense thickets

y=1, n=0

n

5.01

Aquatic

y=5, n=0

n

5.02

Grass

y=1, n=0

n

5.03

Nitrogen fixing woody plant

y=1, n=0

n

5.04

Geophyte (herbaceous with underground storage organs -- bulbs, corms, or tubers)

y=1, n=0

y

6.01

Evidence of substantial reproductive failure in native habitat

y=1, n=0

n

6.02

Produces viable seed.

y=1, n=-1

n

6.03

Hybridizes naturally

y=1, n=-1

y

6.04

Self-compatible or apomictic

y=1, n=-1

n

6.05

Requires specialist pollinators

y=-1, n=0

y

6.06

Reproduction by vegetative fragmentation

y=1, n=-1

n

6.07

Minimum generative time (years) 1 year = 1, 2 or 3 years = 0, 4+ years = -1

See left

1

7.01

Propagules likely to be dispersed unintentionally (plants growing in heavily trafficked areas)

y=1, n=-1

n

7.02

Propagules dispersed intentionally by people

y=1, n=-1

y

7.03

Propagules likely to disperse as a produce contaminant

y=1, n=-1

n

7.04

Propagules adapted to wind dispersal

y=1, n=-1

n

7.05

Propagules water dispersed

y=1, n=-1

n

7.06

Propagules bird dispersed

y=1, n=-1

n

7.07

Propagules dispersed by other animals (externally)

y=1, n=-1

n

7.08

Propagules survive passage through the gut

y=1, n=-1

n

8.01

Prolific seed production (>1000/m2)

y=1, n=-1

n

8.02

Evidence that a persistent propagule bank is formed (>1 yr)

y=1, n=-1

n

8.03

Well controlled by herbicides

y=-1, n=1

8.04

Tolerates, or benefits from, mutilation, cultivation, or fire

y=1, n=-1

y

8.05

Effective natural enemies present locally (e.g. introduced biocontrol agents)

y=-1, n=1

Total score:

-11

Notes

Source

1.01

(1-4) The wild species produces seeds but the cultivated varieties derived from the wild are seedless. (5)Musa acuminata has been cultivated for at least 4,000 years.

(1)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm (2)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminatasubsperrans.htm (3)http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.html (4)http://216.239.57.104/search?q=cache:vk1R7tujowQJ:www.bananalink.org.uk
/documents/Biotechnology%2520by%2520James%2520Brown.doc+
Musa+acuminata+seed+dispersal&hl=en&ie=UTF-8 (5)http://www.msu.edu/~ruther14/plant.html

1.02

No evidence

1.03

No evidence

2.01

(1)Musa acuminata is an Australasian species although there is one peculiar population in the forests north of Wete on Pemba Island off the Tanzanian coast of east Africa. Stover & Simmonds 1987 speculated that Musa acuminata may be wild on Pemba Island in which case it would be the only wild Musa species with a foothold in Africa. It is more likely that the plant was introduced to Pemba from Indonesia, see for example Rossel 1998, although Shepherd 1999 treats it as a possibly distinct subspecies.
(2) 'M. acuminata (red) is indigenous from India and Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, through Australia, Samoa, and the Philippines. M. balbisiana (green) is found from India, through southern China, the Philippines, perhaps as far as Hawaii. Cultivated bananas were carried from Indonesia to Madagascar in about 300 AD, and from there to East, Central, and finally West Africa. Subsequently, they were carried across the Atlantic either by Africans or by Europeans to the Caribbean islands and finally into Central and

(1)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm (2)http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/mpts/musa.html

2.02

(1)'M. acuminata (red) is indigenous from India and Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, through Australia, Samoa, and the Philippines. M. balbisiana (green) is found from India, through southern China, the Philippines, perhaps as far as Hawaii. Cultivated bananas were carried from Indonesia to Madagascar in about 300 AD, and from there to East, Central, and finally West Africa. Subsequently, they were carried across the Atlantic either by Africans or by Europeans to the Caribbean islands and finally into Central and South America.' (2)Cultivated (Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz)(1)'M. acuminata (red) is indigenous from India and Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, through Australia, Samoa, and the Philippines. M. balbisiana (green) is found from India, through southern China, the Philippines, perhaps as far as Hawaii. Cultivated bananas were carried from Indonesia to Madagascar in about 300 AD, and from there to East, Central, and finally West Africa. Subsequently, they were carried across the Atla

(1)http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/mpts/musa.html (2)http://www.unibas.ch/botimage/h/Musa_acuminata.htm

2.03

(1) USDA: 10-12 (2)tropical wet & dry (Aw), tropical wet (Ar), steppe or semiarid (Bs), subtropical humid (Cf), subtropical dry summer (Cs), subtropical dry winter (Cw), 0-2400 m

(1)http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Musaceae/Musa_acuminata.html (2)http://ecocrop.fao.org/

2.04

(1)Musa acuminata is an Australasian species although there is one peculiar population in the forests north of Wete on Pemba Island off the Tanzanian coast of east Africa. Stover & Simmonds 1987 speculated that Musa acuminata may be wild on Pemba Island in which case it would be the only wild Musa species with a foothold in Africa. It is more likely that the plant was introduced to Pemba from Indonesia, see for example Rossel 1998, although Shepherd 1999 treats it as a possibly distinct subspecies.
(2) 'M. acuminata (red) is indigenous from India and Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, through Australia, Samoa, and the Philippines. M. balbisiana (green) is found from India, through southern China, the Philippines, perhaps as far as Hawaii. Cultivated bananas were carried from Indonesia to Madagascar in about 300 AD, and from there to East, Central, and finally West Africa. Subsequently, they were carried across the Atlantic either by Africans or by Europeans to the Caribbean islands and finally into Central and

(1)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm (2)http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/mpts/musa.html

2.05

(1)'M. acuminata (red) is indigenous from India and Ceylon to the Malay Peninsula, through Australia, Samoa, and the Philippines. M. balbisiana (green) is found from India, through southern China, the Philippines, perhaps as far as Hawaii. Cultivated bananas were carried from Indonesia to Madagascar in about 300 AD, and from there to East, Central, and finally West Africa. Subsequently, they were carried across the Atlantic either by Africans or by Europeans to the Caribbean islands and finally into Central and South America.' (2)Cultivated (Spain, Canary Islands, Tenerife, Puerto de la Cruz)

(1)http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/mpts/musa.html (2)http://www.unibas.ch/botimage/h/Musa_acuminata.htm

3.01

No evidence

3.02

No evidence

3.03

No evidence

3.04

No evidence

3.05

No evidence

4.01

No evidence

http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week022.shtml

4.02

No evidence

4.03

No evidence

4.04

(1) 'The nutritive value of banana by-products (leaves, pseudostems and raceme stems) for goats was studied by rumen degradability and in vitro digestibility techniques, voluntary intake and maintenance trials. Banana by-products had both a relatively low degradability and digestibility, with derived metabolizable energy content (MJ ME per kg dry matter (DM)) of 6.54 for leaves, 6.66 for pseudostems and 8.24 for raceme stems. Daily voluntary intake (g DM per kg M(0.75)) was 66.4 for leaves, 19.3 for pseudostems, and 15.3 for raceme stems. On these results, pseudostems and raceme stems would provide less than 0.30 of maintenance ME needs of goats. However, rations based only on banana leaves should meet more than 0.85 of the maintenance energy needs.' (2)Leaves used as animal feed.

(1)Pieltain, MC; Castanon, JIR; Ventura, MR; Flores, MP 1999. The nutritive value of banana (Musa acuminata L.) by products for maintaining goats. Animal science : an international journal of fundamental and applied research. 69 (pt.1) p. 213-216 (2)http://ecocrop.fao.org/

4.05

No evidence

4.06

(1)No serious insect or disease problems. Watch for aphids, spider mites, mealybugs and scale on houseplants. Susceptible to anthracnose, wilt and mosaic virus. (2)135 fungi species are listed to be associated with Musa acuminata.
(3) Colletotrichum musae also infect several other Musa species (M. Musa cavendishii, M. textilis) with economic importance. [shared pests with common banana] 

(1)http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/kemperweb/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=A529 (2)http://nt.ars-grin.gov/fungaldatabases/all/FindRecOneFungusFrame.cfm
(3) Bedimo, J. M.; Chillet, M.; Jullien, A.; Lapeyre de Bellaire, L. de (2003) The early bunch covering of banana improves the growth of fruit and its sanitary state with respect to anthracnosis (Colletotrichum musae ). [FT: Le gainage précoce des régimes de bananes améliore la croissance des fruits et leur état sanitaire vis-à-vis de l'anthracnose (Colletotrichum musae ).] Fruits (Paris), 2003, Vol.58, No.2, pp.71-81, 22 ref.

4.07

No evidence

4.08

an evergreen herbaceous plant.

http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/kemperweb/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=A529

4.09

(1)Full sun. (2)It can grow in semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. (3)Requires a sunny sheltered position (4)very bright to light shade

(1)http://ridgwaydb.mobot.org/kemperweb/plantfinder/Plant.asp?code=A529 (2)http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Musa+acuminata (3)http://plants.gardenbed.com/43/4244_cul.asp (4)http://ecocrop.fao.org/

4.1

(1)Musa acuminata do best in well drained soils high in organic matter with a pH of 5.5 to 7.0. (2)Soil: Bananas will grow in most soils, but to thrive, they should be planted in a rich, well-drained soil. The best possible location would be above an abandoned compost heap. They prefer an acid soil with a pH between 5.5 and 6.5. The banana is not tolerant of salty soils.' (3)The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and requires well-drained soil. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils.

(1)http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week022.shtml (2)http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/banana.html (3)http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Musa+acuminata

4.11

Probably not - not a vine.

http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week022.shtml

4.12

No evidence

5.01

Terrestrial

5.02

5.03

No evidence

5.04

(1)Musa acuminata is a perennial herb but the leaf sheaths produce several trunklike structures called pseudostems. … Musa acuminata is most commonly propagated by the removal of suckers or pieces of rhizome from the original plant. (2)'Bananas are fast growing and most sucker freely once the plant is established, which doesn't take long after planting. The banana produces smaller corms known as cormels or cormlets that are attached to the mother plant. These cormlets can be cut from the adult plant and potted up and a new baby banana well grow, mature and produce bananas in the next season.'

(1)http://www.plantoftheweek.org/week022.shtml (2)http://www.texasriviera.com/banana/

6.01

No evidence

6.02

(1) 'The fruit is a linear-falcate berry, 8-13 cm long X 1.5-3 cm in diameter. The skin of immature fruit is green and leathery while that of mature fruit is yellow, and encloses the fleshy white, yellow, or orange pulp which lacks developed seeds (necessitating vegetative rather than seed propagation). '

(1)http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/hort400/mpts/musa.html.

6.03

(1)Hybridizes with Musa balbisiana. (2) 'Simmonds also referred to 'natural AB hybrids' in an introduction of BB type seeds from Java.' [See ref, A refers to M. acuminata and B referes to B. balbisiana.] (3)The many varieties of edible bananas were developed by crossing and recrossing two wild species: Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.

(1)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm (2)http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pdf/383.pdf (3)http://www.streetside.com/plants/floridata/ref/m/musa.htm

6.04

generally sterile

6.05

(2) 'Bananas of the Cavendish group are triploids, and therefore completely sterile; fruit is set parthenocarpically. Traces of the undeveloped ovules are seen as brown specs in the center of the fruit. Floral morphology suggests that wild bananas are bat pollinated in their native range.' (1) 'The ovaries contained in the first (female) flowers grow rapidly, developing parthenocarpically (without pollination) into clusters of fruits, called hands. … The common cultivated types are generally seedless with just vestiges of ovules visible as brown specks. Occasionally, cross-pollination with wild types will result in a number of seeds in a normally seedless variety. ' (3) 'AB: The two Sumatran wild banana, Musa acuminata sub sp. halabensis and .... . The M. a. halabenanensis flowers on pendant inflorescences with dark purple bracts, produced jelly like nectar of 22- 25% sugar concentration primarily at night and were pollinated by the nectarivorous pteropodid bats, Macroglossus sobrinus.'

(1)http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/banana.html (2)http://www.uga.edu/fruit/banana.htm

6.06

'Bananas are fast growing and most sucker freely once the plant is established, which doesn't take long after planting. The banana produces smaller corms known as cormels or cormlets that are attached to the mother plant. These cormlets can be cut from the adult plant and potted up and a new baby banana well grow, mature and produce bananas in the next season.' [natural fragmentation is rare or non-existent because resprouts occur only near mother plant, not on runners]

http://www.texasriviera.com/banana/

6.07

'A banana plant bears fruit 10-12 months after planting.'

http://www.uga.edu/fruit/banana.htm

7.01

Probably not - cultivated plants are mostly seedless. Also no evidence that the might have any means of attachment.

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.html

7.02

'Bananas and plantains are today grown in every humid tropical region and constitutes the 4th largest fruit crop of the world. … Banana plants are extremely decorative, ranking next to palm trees for the tropical feeling they lend to the landscape.

7.03

(1) cultivated plants are mostly seedless. (2)Seeds (when present) dull black, smooth (ex Backer) or more commonly minutely tuberculate, irregularly angulate-depressed, 6 - 7 mm. across and about 3 mm. High

(1)http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.htmlhttp://
www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.html (2)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm

7.04

generally sterile

7.05

generally sterile

7.06

generally sterile

7.07

generally sterile

7.08

Flowers not fruits reported to be eaten by flying foxes (bats) in Malaysia.

http://www.batcon.org/discover/ffecon3.html

8.01

[plants in cultivation are generally sterile] . 'Seeds (when present) dull black, smooth (ex Backer) or more commonly minutely tuberculate, irregularly angulate-depressed, 6 - 7 mm. across and about 3 mm. High

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm

8.02

Probably not - only wild plants produce seed. Cultivated plants are seedless. Seeds when present relatively small. Also the plant can spread vegetatively.

(1)http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.htmlhttp://
www.madsci.org/posts/archives/May2003/1052767100.Bt.r.html (2)http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/macuminata.htm

8.03

No evidence that the species is being controlled for.

8.04

In a cold winter a bad frost will severely injure the plant, but it will resprout from the ground when warm weather returns [regrowth from base]

http://www.naturalhub.com/grow_fruit_type_banana_new_zealand.htm

8.05

Don’t know