View source for Ensete

{{Short description|Genus of plants}}
{{more citations needed|date=March 2013}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| oldest_fossil = Eocene
| image = Ensete superbum.jpg
| image_caption = ''Ensete superbum'' at the [[United States Botanic Garden]]
| taxon = Ensete
| authority = [[James Bruce|Bruce]]
| subdivision_ranks = Species
| subdivision = See text
}}

'''''Ensete''''' is a [[genus]] of [[monocarpic]] [[flowering plant]]s [[native plant|native]] to tropical regions of Africa and Asia. It is one of the three genera in the [[banana]] family, [[Musaceae]], and includes the false banana or enset (''[[Ensete ventricosum|E. ventricosum]]''), an economically important food crop in Ethiopia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Wilkin|first1=Paul|last2=Demissew|first2=Sebsebe|last3=Willis|first3=Kathy|last4=Woldeyes|first4=Feleke|last5=Davis|first5=Aaron P.|last6=Molla|first6=Ermias L.|last7=Janssens|first7=Steven|last8=Kallow|first8=Simon|last9=Berhanu|first9=Admas|title=Enset in Ethiopia: a poorly characterized but resilient starch staple|journal=Annals of Botany|volume=123|issue=5|pages=747–766|language=en|doi=10.1093/aob/mcy214|pmid=30715125|pmc=6526316|year=2019}}</ref><ref name=RHSAZ>{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}}</ref><ref name=aaas>{{cite web|url=http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/uses.shtml|title=Uses of Enset|access-date=13 August 2007|year=1997|work=The 'Tree Against Hunger': Enset-Based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia|publisher=[[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819143500/http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/uses.shtml|archive-date=19 August 2007}}</ref>

== Taxonomy ==
The genus ''Ensete'' was first described by [[Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow]] (or [[Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninov|Horaninov]], 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 [[Ernest Entwistle Cheesman|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.<ref>Cheesman, E. E. 1947. Classification of the bananas. I. The genus ''Ensete'' Horan and the genus ''Musa'' L. Kew Bulletin (GBR), 2: 97-117</ref>

Taxonomically, the genus ''Ensete'' has shrunk since Cheesman revived the [[taxon]]. Cheesman acknowledged that field study might reveal [[Synonym (taxonomy)|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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2020}}

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

;Africa
:''[[Ensete gilletii]]'' synonym ''[[Ensete livingstonianum]]'' - native range W. Tropical Africa to Malawi
:''[[Ensete homblei]]'' -  native range is SE. DR Congo to N. Zambia
:''[[Ensete perrieri]]'' – endemic to [[Madagascar]] but intriguingly like the Asian ''E. glaucum''
:''[[Ensete ventricosum]]'' – enset or false banana, widely cultivated as a food plant in Ethiopia

;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''

=== Extinct species ===
''Ensete oregonense'' [[Clarno Formation]], Oregon, United States, [[Eocene]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Manchester |first1=Steven R. |last2=Kress |first2=W. John |date=1993-11-01 |title=Fossil bananas (Musaceae): Ensete oregonense sp. nov. from the Eocene of western North America and its phytogeographic significance |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/j.1537-2197.1993.tb15363.x |journal=American Journal of Botany |language=en |volume=80 |issue=11 |pages=1264–1272 |doi=10.1002/j.1537-2197.1993.tb15363.x |bibcode=1993AmJB...80.1264M |issn=0002-9122|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of Ethiopian dishes and foods]]
*[[List of Southern African indigenous trees]]
*[[Musa (genus)]]
*''[[Musella lasiocarpa]]''
*[[Plantain (true)|Plantain]]

== Notes ==
{{Reflist|30em}}

== Relevant literature== 
* Borrell, James S., Mark Goodwin, Guy Blomme, Kim Jacobsen, Abebe M. Wendawek, Dawd Gashu, Ermias Lulekal, Zemede Asfaw, Sebsebe Demissew, and Paul Wilkin. "Enset‐based agricultural systems in Ethiopia: A systematic review of production trends, agronomy, processing and the wider food security applications of a neglected banana relative." ''Plants, People, Planet'' 2, no. 3 (2020): 212-228.

==External links==
{{Wiktionary}}

*{{aut|Constantine, D. R. & Rossel, G.}} (1999): [http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~drc/ensete.htm]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://www.ipni.org/ipni/simplePlantNameSearch.do;jsessionid=93455F980D14E185DFFE5DDBD8D17E59 IPNI Listing]
*[http://www.africa.upenn.edu/eue_web/enset96.htm Enset as a crop] (UNEUE)
*[http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Hornet/Enset_Culture_19761.html Enset Culture] (UNEUE)
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050316015345/http://www.aaas.org/international/africa/enset/descrip.shtml American Association for the Advancement of Science] – The Tree Against Hunger: Enset-based Agricultural Systems in Ethiopia.
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050506153920/http://www.oxfamamerica.org/whatwedo/where_we_work/ethiopia/news_publications/art5760.html Oxfam] – Holes in the Safety Net
*[http://hdl.handle.net/10037/2011 "A study on Esset as a means of existence, social organization and ethnical identification for the Gurage people"], Master's thesis, University of Tromsø (2009)
*[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/search?q=Ensete Kew Plant List]

{{Taxonbar|from=Q312321}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Ensete| ]]
[[Category:Crops originating from Ethiopia]]
[[Category:Flora of the Indomalayan realm]]
[[Category:Musaceae]]
[[Category:Root vegetables]]
[[Category:Staple foods]]
[[Category:Tropical fruit]]
[[Category:Tropical agriculture]]
[[Category:Zingiberales genera]]

[[no:Bananfamilien]]