Musa violascens

Between 1975 and 2015, the percentage of total land use in Malaysia taken up by palm oil plantations increased from about 2% to about 18% (Malaysian Palm Oil Board 2017). However, the effect of agricultural land use change on Musa violascens is unclear as wild Musa species in Malaya are tolerant of disturbance to an extent; for example, it is thought that logging activities may have actually created more suitable habitat for M. gracilis (Kiew 1987). More research is needed to ascertain the impact that the expansion of the palm oil industry may be having on the species.

The genus Musa is listed in Annex I of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) which aims to guarantee sustainable agriculture and food security through the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, as well as ensuring the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use (FAO 2009). There are fifteen M. gracilis germplasm accessions of wild origin held worldwide: all of these were collected from plants in Malaysia with 14 accessions held by the Millennium Seed Bank and a single accession held by the Biodiversity International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre in Belgium (Genesys Global Portal on Plant Genetic Resources 2019). Four botanical gardens are listed as sites of ex situ conservation for this species (BGCI 2019). It may be inferred using GeoCAT that its distribution overlaps with multiple protected areas (Bachman et al. 2011). It has certainly been recorded from the 77.46 km² Templer Park Wildlife Reserve and the 623.96 km² Krau Wildlife Reserve; passive conservation is presumed here, however, there is no evidence of active management or monitoring of this species (Protected Planet 2019).