Musa balbisiana is a species of wild
banana native to eastern
South Asia, northern
Southeast Asia, and southern
China. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with
Musa acuminata. It was first scientifically described in 1820 by the Italian
botanist Luigi Aloysius Colla. It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in
inflorescences coloured red to maroon. The fruit are between blue and green. They are considered inedible because of the seeds they contain. It may be assumed that wild bananas were cooked and eaten or agriculturalists would not have developed the cultivated banana. Seeded
Musa balbisiana fruit are called
butuhan ('with seeds') in the
Philippines, and
kluai tani (กล้วยตานี) in
Thailand. Natural
parthenocarpic clones occur through
polyploidy and produce edible bananas, examples of which are wild
saba bananas.