Fourteen populations of Musa acuminata  ranging from populations in  the lowlands of northern
(ssp. siamea)  to central Malaysian region  (ssp. malaccensis) and highland banana  (ssp. truncata) were
characterized based on chromosome number and 46 morphological characters. A large amount of variation
was observed within the populations. However, only highland bananas appeared morphologically distinct.
Lowland populations both from northern and central Malaysia were found to be overlapping and no
distinguishing pattern was observed. The morphological characters found variable within these populations
were related to developmental changes and mutations. The results obtained in this study were not
revolutionary. However, the survey of a large number of characters treated with multivariate techniques
further sharpened the existing groupings of the Musa acuminata subspecies.