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Musa textilis

Authority	Nee
Family	Liliopsida:Zingiberidae:Zingiberales:Musaceae
Synonyms
Common names	abaca, manila hemp
Editor
Ecocrop code	1506

Notes
BRIEF DESCRIPTION A plant with a fleshy, watery stem made up of large, spirally arranged, overlapping leaf bases called sheaths. The plant stands erect, 1.5-6 m tall and the stem has a diameter of up to 30 cm at the base. Leaves are 1-2 m long and up to 60 cm wide. Fruits may be 10-25 cm long, green, yellow or brown, cylindric or angled, and seeded or seedless. USES It is grown as a fiber crop. The fiber was once used for marine cordage because of its durability in salt water. Demand for the fiber as a pulp product has been increasing. The fruit are inedible. GROWING PERIOD Perennial, growing 1.5-3.0 years before first harvest and with a economical life of 6-15 years. COMMON NAMES Manila hemp, Abaca, Canamo de Manila, Chanure de manille, Abaca manila, Pisang manila, Pisang benang, Pisang utan, Agotai, Agotag, Amoguid, Lanton, Samoro, Chuoi soi. FURTHER INF Manila hemp is native of the Philippines and it is a plant of the hot humid tropics adapted to an average relative humidity of about 80%. The present zone of successful cultivation lies within ti latitudinal range 15°N and 5°S. In the Philippines it is usually grown in regions below 500 m in elevations but it can be grown in the tropics at altitudes between sea level and 1100 m. Three commonly grown clones are: 1) Tangongon: 4.5-5.5 m tall, not exacting in regard to soil conditions and grows well on heavy clay soils, easily blown down, common in the Philippines. 2) Bungulanon: short-lived (5-6 years), cannot be grown on stiff clay or dry sandy soils, common in Central America. 3) Maguindanao: long-lived (15 years or more), cannot be grown in heavy clays, the root system is shallow and it is easily damaged by high winds. In the Philippines, the annual fiber yield ranges from 0.31-1.71 t/ha, while in Ecuador, yields are between 1.5-2.5 t/ha.
Sources
SOURCES (M. textilis Nee) Sims D (pers. comm.) Roecklein J 1987 pp 117 [USE, DEP, DRA, FER, TEXT] Eswaran H 1986 pp 9 12 49 81 [TEXT, FER, DRA, DEP, PH, TEMP, RAIN] Rehm S 1991 pp 359 [USE] Purseglove J 1972 pp 377-384 [USE, TEMP, RAIN, DRA, TEXT, FER, DEP, LIMITS] Williams C 1979a pp 81-83 [RAIN, DEP, DRA, FER] Duke J 1975 pp 22 [PH, RAIN, TEMP] Kirby R 1963 pp 326-354 [LIMIT, FER, RAIN, KTMP, TEMP, TEXT, DRA, DEP, USE] Westphal E 1989 pp 188-192 [USE, RAIN, TEMP, TEXT, DRA, FER, LIMIT]