Have you noticed that some of the images in herbals that are labeled "musa" do not resemble banana plants?
I've been doing some research on this, for the following reason...
Before Columbus, Cyclamen was called "earth apple" (one of several names). After the potato was brought to the Old World, it became "earth apple" and the Cyclamen gradually lost the name. I've found a number of plants like this, that take on a more recent name after New World, African, and Asian plants became better known in Europe.
When I tried to find information on medieval "musa" there wasn't much info, but in the Portuguese and Provençal references, there is mention of a plant called "musa" which is what we call mouse-ear (there are several weedy field plants called "mouse ear" due to the downy fuzz on their leaves and sometimes stems). Many field plants have basal leaves and roundish seeds on slender stalks which would match some of the old images.
After that I found another field plant called musa but couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was definitely not banana.
The references are few and hard to find, but it's possible some of the early herbal images of "musa" are not banana and that the name at some point got transferred from something else to banana, just as earth apple was transferred from Cyclamen to potatoes. Unfortunately, if this happened, it's a bit difficult to determine exactly when because so many scribes copied from old references and sometimes misunderstood what they were copying and added their own twist to the interpretation.
I've been doing some research on this, for the following reason...
Before Columbus, Cyclamen was called "earth apple" (one of several names). After the potato was brought to the Old World, it became "earth apple" and the Cyclamen gradually lost the name. I've found a number of plants like this, that take on a more recent name after New World, African, and Asian plants became better known in Europe.
When I tried to find information on medieval "musa" there wasn't much info, but in the Portuguese and Provençal references, there is mention of a plant called "musa" which is what we call mouse-ear (there are several weedy field plants called "mouse ear" due to the downy fuzz on their leaves and sometimes stems). Many field plants have basal leaves and roundish seeds on slender stalks which would match some of the old images.
After that I found another field plant called musa but couldn't quite make out what it was, but it was definitely not banana.
The references are few and hard to find, but it's possible some of the early herbal images of "musa" are not banana and that the name at some point got transferred from something else to banana, just as earth apple was transferred from Cyclamen to potatoes. Unfortunately, if this happened, it's a bit difficult to determine exactly when because so many scribes copied from old references and sometimes misunderstood what they were copying and added their own twist to the interpretation.