Musa rubinea

Häkkinen and Teo (2008) describe the species as very rare. Extensive and targeted expeditions undertaken in 2005, 2006 and 2007 in western Yunnan, where the species was originally discovered, failed to uncover any populations, and it was speculated that wild populations of the species had been lost (Häkkinen and Teo 2008). However, observations of wild plants were made in 2019 in a similar area to where the species was originally discovered (iNaturalist 2020). Although the precise localities of these observations are not clear, they are suspected to have been recorded at fairly separate localities. Given the failure to locate the species in targeted expeditions in this area, it is suspected that the species remains very rare and that the plants observed belong to small subpopulations; in support of this supposition, the reportedly similar species M. chunii and Musa mannii have only been observed growing in small, isolated subpopulations (Häkkinen and Teo 2008, Häkkinen 2009, Sabu et al. 2013, Joe et al. 2014). The species has also been reported from along the state highway in Lohit District of Arunachal Pradesh; expansion of the highway is in evidence and only a single flowering plant has been reported (Ranibala et al. 2018), although this identification requires substantiation. Based on available information and appropriate inference, it is suspected that the global population numbers fewer than 250 individuals, and that the largest subpopulation comprises fewer than 50 plants. As the species was not identified upon return to the area of the type collection by the author of the protologue (Häkkinen and Teo 2008), it is suspected that the wild plants originally observed have been lost; similarly, if only a single mature individual is now growing at the collection locality in Arunachal Pradesh, it is suspected that a larger population was apparent previously. As such, it is inferred that the number of mature individuals is decreasing. Research into population status and trends is needed to confirm these hypotheses, and urgently required as part of wider necessary study into extant wild individuals.