Thai banana
banana cultivar
Thai banana (also called pisang awak; Chinese: 粉蕉; pinyin: Fěn jiāo) is a banana cultivar originating from Thailand, belonging to the triploid ABB banana cultivar group.
In China, it is commonly known as fenjiao (粉蕉, literally "powder banana") and is widely grown in the southern provinces such as Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan and Fujian.
Etymology
Thai banana (or 'pisang awak') is also known in Australia as 'Ducasse' and 'Kayinja' in Uganda. The Malaysian name "pisang awak" is more commonly used among research institutions. In Thailand, it is known as kluai nam wa (กล้วยน้ำว้า, pronounced [klûaj nám wáː]). The term nam wa has crossed over into the Khmer language where Thai banana is known in Cambodia as chek nam va (ចេកណាំវ៉ា), but is known in the Khmer-speaking Thai province of Surin as chek sâ (ចេកស) or white banana. This banana variety has multiple romanizations including 'Namwah Tall' (with a superfluous 'h'). In Vietnam, it is called as chuối sứ or chuối xiêm ("Siamese banana", means 'Thailand banana'). In Philippines, it is commonly called lagkitan in the Southern Tagalog region or botolan in the Palawan region.
As a stout mutation, 'Dwarf Pisang Awak' is known in America as Musa 'Dwarf Namwah' as popularized by Agri-Starts Inc; and in Thai language as kluai nam wa khom (กล้วยน้ำว้าค่อม).
“Thai banana” enters the record as banana cultivar. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thai, banana and cultivar can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thai banana” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.