Ensete (Enset) is one of three genera of plants in the banana family, Musaceae, native to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. For other uses, see Genus (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...  Musaceae distribution Genera Ensete Musa Musella Musaceae is a botanical name for a family of flowering plants. ... A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing the location of Asia. ...

Domesticated enset in Ethiopia

"Enset provides more amount of foodstuff per unit area than most cereals. It is estimated that 40 to 60 enset plants occupying 250-375 sq. meters can provide enough food for a family of 5 to 6 people." – Country Information Brief, FAO June 1995 Possible meanings: Faro Airport (Portugal) Federation of Astrobiology Organizations Financial Aid Office Food and Agriculture Organization This page expands a three-character combination which might be any or all of: an abbreviation, an acronym, an initialism, a word in English, or a word in another language. ...

Enset (E. ventricosum) is commonly known as "false banana" for its close resemblance to the domesticated banana plant. It is Ethiopia's most important root crop, a traditional staple crop in the densely populated south and southwestern parts of Ethiopia. The root is the main edible portion as its fruit is not edible. Each plant takes four to five years to mature, at which time a single root will give 40 kg of food. Due to the long period of time from planting to harvest, plantings need to be staggered over time, to ensure that there is enset available for harvest in every season. Enset will tolerate drought better than most cereal crops. Root vegetables are underground plant parts used as vegetables. ... Farming, ploughing rice paddy, in Indonesia Agriculture is the process of producing food, feed, fiber and other desired products by cultivation of certain plants and the raising of domesticated animals (livestock). ... Look up Harvest in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Fields outside Benambra, Victoria suffering from drought conditions A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply. ... Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible seeds (actually a fruit called a grain, technically a caryopsis). ...

Wild enset plants are produced from seeds, while most domesticated plants are propagated from suckers. Up to 400 suckers can be produced from just one mother plant. In 1994 3,000 km² of enset were grown in Ethiopia, with a harvest estimated to be almost 10 tonnes per ha. Enset is often intercropped with sorghum. A ripe red jalapeño cut open to show the seeds For other uses, see Seed (disambiguation). ... A sucker emerging from the base of a young tree This stump is almost entirely obscured by suckers. ... Species About 30 species, see text Sorghum is a genus of numerous species of grasses, some of which are raised for grain and many of which are utilised as fodder plants either cultivated or as part of pasture. ...

Taxonomy

The genus Ensete was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (1796-1865) in his Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum of 1862 in which he created a single species, Ensete edule. However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the Kew Bulletin on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species.

Taxonomically, the genus Ensete has shrunk since Cheesman revived the genus. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal synonymy and the most recent review of the genus by Simmonds (1960) listed just six. Recently the number has increased to seven as the Flora of China has, not entirely convincingly, reinstated Ensete wilsonii. There is one species in Thailand, somewhat resembling E. superbum, that has not been formally described, and possibly other Asian species.

It is possible to separate Ensete into its African and Asian species.

Africa

Ensete gilletii

Ensete homblei

Ensete perrieri - endemic to Madagascar but intriguingly like the Asian E. glaucum

Ensete ventricosum - Enset or "false banana", sometimes used in Ethiopian cuisine (particularly Gurage cuisine).

Asia

Ensete glaucum - widespread in Asia from India to Papua New Guinea

Ensete superbum - Western Ghats of India

Ensete wilsonii - Yunnan, China, but doubtfully distinct from E. glaucum

Ensete sp. "Thailand" - possibly a new species or a disjunct population of E. superbum

Note: This article contains special characters. ... Gurage is an ethnic group in Ethiopia. ... Yunan redirects here. ...

See also

• List of Southern African indigenous trees

SOUTHERN AFRICAN TREES, SHRUBS AND LIANES // Cyatheaceae Cyathea capensis (L.f. ...

External links

• David Constantine
• Dave's Garden - Information on False Banana, Red Abyssinian Banana, Wild Banana (Ensete ventricosum)
• Enset as a crop (UNEUE)
• Enset Culture (UNEUE)
• American Association for the Advancement of Science - The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia.
• Five thousand years of sustainability? A case study on Gedeo land use. PhD dissertation by Kippie Kanshie, T. of May 2002. ISBN 90-804443-6-7, Treemail publishers, 295 pp, 20 pages of color illustrations.
• Oxfam - Holes in the Safety Net