{{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 = Bruce | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = See text }}
'''''Ensete''''' is a genus of monocarpic flowering plants 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 (''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 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 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 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 :[[File:Ensete glaucum 6zz.jpg|thumb|''Ensete glaucum'' (Snow banana)]]''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 :[[File:Ensete superbum 19.jpg|thumb|''Ensete superbum'' (Ghat banana)]]''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 === [[File:Ensete ventricosum - Habitus 2.jpg|thumb|''Ensete ventricosum'' (Abyssinian banana)]] thumb|''Ensete oregonense'' (bottom, left)''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'' *True plantains
== 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