Distribution: Endemic to Madagascar
Bioclimate: Humid, Subhumid
Vegetation Formation: Grassland, Forest, Inselberg/Rock Face, Anthropic
Elevation (m): 0-499, 500-999, 1000-1499
Province: Antsiranana, Fianarantsoa, Toamasina, Toliara
Protected Areas 
: Nosy Mangabe
Note: Adans. (Fam. Pl. 10. 2: 67, 1763) and J.F. Gmel. (Syst. Nat. 2(1): 567, 1791) have sometimes been cited as the authors of this name, however the former did not publish a species name within Ravenala and the latter was predated (and himself cited) Sonnerat's valid publication of R. madagascariensis. The original description appears to correspond closely (in places word for word) to a label on a specimen in P-LAM (probably hand-written by Sonnerat) but neither the description or the specimen labels indicate the collector, in addition to the description the specimen only bears the information: xxxxx. Lamarck's generic account refers to Sonnerat and this specimen, but again with no indication of the specimen's origin, the illustrations appear to be redrawn from Sonnerat's originals. A specimen in P-JUSS which looks identical to the LAM one is a Commerson collection from Ile de France. The Lamarck specimen should be taken as the holotype, it likely was collected by Sonnerat. Specimen distr
Updated on: 19 May. 2004
