taxonomic study of Musa flaviflora and M. thomsonii (Musaceae)

The taxonomic identity of Musa flaviflora Simmonds (1956a) and Musa thomsonii (King ex Baker) A. M. Cowan & Cowan (1929) have been uncertain to most botanists and have fallen towards oblivion. These two species have also been erroneously synonymized by many botanists but are distinct species with different distributions, viz. M. flaviflora from the northeastern parts of India and M. thomsonii from Bhutan, Sikkim, the Himalayan hills of India and Yunnan, China. The aim of this study is to settle the true identity of those ‘lost species’ and to update their descriptions. These studies are based on morphological characteristics observed in the field in northeast India, and Yunnan, China, in various herbaria as well as in the literature on Musaceae.