mice, monkeys, and apes. These animals are also important for seed dispersal. Mature seeds germinate readily 2 to 3 weeks after sowing. Unsprouted, they can remain viable from a few months to two years of storage. Nevertheless, studies show that clone plantlets are much more likely to survive than seedlings germinated from seeds. Domestication In 1955, Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd revised the classification of modern edible bananas based on their genetic origins. Their classification depends on how many of the characteristics of the two ancestral species (Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana) are exhibited by the cultivars. Most banana cultivars which exhibit purely or mostly Musa acuminata genomes are dessert bananas, while hybrids of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana are mostly cooking bananas or plantains.Musa acuminata is one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by humans for agriculture, 7,000 years ago in New Guinea and Wallacea. It has been suggested that M. acuminata may have originally been domesticated for parts other than the fruit. Either for fiber, for construction materials, or for its edible male bud. They were selected early for parthenocarpy and seed sterility in their fruits, a process that might have taken thousands of years. This initially led to the first 'human-edible' banana diploid clones (modern AA cultivars). Diploid clones are still able to produce viable seeds when pollinated by wild species. This resulted in the development of triploid clones which were conserved for their larger fruit.M. acuminata was later introduced into mainland Indochina into the range of another ancestral wild banana species – Musa balbisiana, a hardier species of lesser genetic diversity than M. acuminata. Hybridization between the two resulted in drought-resistant edible cultivars. Modern edible banana and plantain cultivars are derived from permutations of hybridization and polyploidy of the two. OrnamentalM. acuminata is one of several banana species cultivated as an ornamental plant, for its striking shape and foliage. In temperate regions it requires protection in winter, as it does not tolerate temperatures below . The cultivar M. acuminata'' 'Dwarf Cavendish' (AAA Group) has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. See also Cooking plantain Gros Michel banana Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia History of agriculture Banana Cultivar Groups References acuminata Plants described in 1820