The genus "Ensete" was first described by Paul Fedorowitsch Horaninow (1796-1865) in his "Prodromus Monographiae Scitaminarum" of 1862 in which he created a single species, "Ensete edule". However, the genus did not receive general recognition until 1947 when it was revived by E. E. Cheesman in the first of a series of papers in the "Kew Bulletin" on the classification of the bananas, with a total of 25 species.