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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Musaceae
| image = Musa_paradisiaca_Blanco1.88.png
| image_width = 230px
| image_caption = ''[[Musa paradisiaca]]''
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Zingiberales]]
| familia = '''Musaceae'''
| familia_authority = [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu|Juss.]]
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision =
* ''[[Ensete]]''
* ''[[Musa (Musaceae)|Musa]]''
* ''[[Musella]]''
| range_map = Map-Musaceae.PNG
| range_map_width = 250px
| range_map_caption = {{legend|#0000ff|Musaceae distribution}}
}}

'''Musaceae''' is a [[botanical name]] for a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[flowering plants]]. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves with overlapping basal sheaths that form a pseudostem making some members appear to be [[wood]]y trees.

The family has been practically universally recognized by taxonomists, although with differing circumscriptions. Older circumscriptions of the family commonly included the genera now included in [[Heliconiaceae]] and [[Strelitziaceae]].

The [[APG II system]], of 2003 (unchanged from the [[APG system]], 1998), assigns Musaceae to the order [[Zingiberales]] in the clade [[commelinids]] in the [[monocots]].

As currently circumscribed the family includes either two or three [[genus|genera]] (depending upon acceptance of the genus ''[[Musella]]'', see below). All of the genera and species are native to the [[Old World]]. The largest and most economically important genus in the family is ''Musa'', famous for the [[banana]] and [[plantain]]. The genus ''[[Musa]]'' was formally established in the first edition of [[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]]' ''Species Plantarum'' in 1753 — the publication that marks the start of the present formal [[botanical nomenclature]]. At the time he wrote the ''Species Plantarum'', Linnaeus had first hand knowledge of only one type of banana, which he personally had the opportunity of seeing growing under glass in the garden of Mr. George Clifford near [[Haarlem]] in the Netherlands.

Before 1753 the genus had already been described by the pre-Linnaean [[botanist]] [[Georg Eberhard Rumphius]] and Linnaeus himself had described the banana he had seen as ''Musa Cliffortiana'' in 1736 (this might be described as a "pre-Linnaean" Linnaean name). The 1753 name ''Musa paradisiaca'' L. is now known to refer to a hybrid, rather than a natural species. It is known today as ''Musa'' (AAB group) 'French' plantain or ''Musa'' ×''paradisiaca'' L. Hybridization was the cause of much confusion in the taxonomy of the genus that was not resolved until the 1940s and 1950s.

In this clearing up of the taxonomy, [[E. E. Cheesman]] in 1947 revived the name ''Ensete'' which had been published in 1862, by Horaninow, but had not been accepted.

Section ''Musella'' Franch. was raised to the rank of genus by H.W. Li in 1978 for the Chinese species ''Musella lasiocarpa'', which was originally described in ''Musa'', transferred to ''Ensete'' by Cheesman and subsequently back to ''Musa''. Acceptance of ''Musella'' has varied, with some taxonomists considering it a synonym of, and including its single species in, ''Musa''.

== External links ==
{{commonscat|Musaceae}}
{{wikispecies}}
* [http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/orders/zingiberalesweb.htm#Musaceae Musaceae] at the [http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb Angiosperm Phylogeny Website]
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10588 Musaceae] in the Flora of China
* [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/musaceae.htm Musaceae] in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). ''[http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ The families of flowering plants]: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.'' Version: 27th April 2006. http://delta-intkey.com.
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1200&taxon_id=10588 ''Monocot families'' (USDA)]
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=4637&lvl=3&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock NCBI Taxonomy Browser]
* [http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/cgi/gateway_family?fam=Musaceae links at CSDL]

[[Category:Zingiberales|Musaceae]]
[[Category:Plant families]]
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