Please Help Identify This Nanner

18 years ago

Could you help me identify this musa? It came from Aloha Tropicals and was mistakenly identified as a musa rajapuri:

This pic displays the slight variegation clearly - it's very apparent on all the more mature leaves now:

http://www.mjv.com/nanner/100_0308-variegation_example.png

Here's the topside of the leaf with emphasis on the red midrib:

http://www.mjv.com/nanner/100_0313-leaf-midrib-example.png

Here's the bottom of a typical leaf - muted but obvious red tint and red midrib:

http://www.mjv.com/nanner/100_0314-leaf-bottom-example.png

This illustrates the red tint of the underside pretty well:

http://www.mjv.com/nanner/100_0315-new-leaf-color.png

Here is a pic of the pseudostem. If you notice, on the open leaf of the keiki on the right, you can already see a variegation splotch:

http://www.mjv.com/nanner/100_0318-pseudostem-keiki-example.png

I've not had much luck in getting them to conclusively identify what it really is. They've offered to send a replacement - but I'd really like to get the identity of this one. Their lack of response may indicate that they simply do not know and it was a mystery nanner that got mixed in their stock...

Thanks,

Mike

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Comments (6)

fabianman2000
18 years ago
it looks kind of like a musa zebrina.
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mikevanecek
Original Author
18 years ago
M. zebrina and sikkimensis were a couple of varieties I researched - but mine is rather muted and the variegation is pretty mild in comparison to those two from the images I've come across so far - tho that may change as my tree gets more mature. Mine is cultivated in full sun too, if that makes any difference. I had one feller suggest M. mysore (I think syn. with Lady Fingers) - does anyone have a mysore that looks like this? Internet pics I've seen of mysore leave a lot to be desired.

Thanks,
Mike
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lee466
18 years ago
It looks like a yunnan banana (musa itinerans). It is a new introduction, just came out this year. It is like no other banana, because it likes shade to grow well. They are the worlds tallest banana reaching 38 feet. They have white powder like stuff on the trunk, and has purple on the trunk. They are very rare, they grow very fast. here is a website http://www.bigdipperfarm.com/cgi-bin/searchstuff.pl?Botanical=Musa
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mrbungalow
18 years ago
Lee, I would not agree it is a yunnan banana. I believe musa itinerans is a very slender plant with lime green foliage and no variegation? But again, I have never grown this species from seed, so I dont know how it looks when it is young.

But that looks just like my musa sikkimensis.
I have grown a number of them from seed, and they look exactly the same as your plant.
You have quite a nice specimen too, hope it will thrive in the texas heat.
(Image of adult musa sikkimensis.)
{{gwi:409375}}
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fglavin
18 years ago
I agree. Looks a lot like musa sikkimensis to me also. There are several forms of m. sikkimensis, and yours looks like the one I have, 'Red Tiger'. Nice plants, Erlend!

Lee, musa itinerans has been around for several years now. Mine has red on the backside of new leaves, but no blotches on the topside.

I see a nice little plumeria in the background there, Mike. Whatever your banana is, I think I can say that I don't believe it is a Raja Puri!
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mikevanecek
Original Author
18 years ago
Unless they've got it in unofficial stock, Aloha Tropical doesn't have the musa sikkimensis. However, I saw a drop-dead almost identical pic in "Paradise Found" by Norman Winter of a Musa Sumatrana - a form of Zebrina - and this, they carry! The pic they have on the website was a bit redder which is why I discounted it at first - methinks they used a stock photo, because the pic in the book was muted and looking just like my tree. Coolness - I can put a label on my tree finally. As an aside, even after a year, these people were kind enough to send me a replacement musa rajapuri!

Yes, that's a red plumeria from Hawaii. Got a couple. Plus a mess of other tropicals - many varieties of Hawaiian taro, etc, etc...

I also have a mystery nanner from my FIL's garden - was growing there when he moved in. It dies back every winter, of course - but comes back every Spring. Mine's in the ground - I'll probably did a keiki and grow it out in the greenhouse and see if I can get it to flower. It's about as nondescript as you can get with a nanner - green. Green everything. We'll see what it produces...

Mahalo,
Mike
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