Bananas.org - View Single Post - flowering Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis/itinerans update

bigdog · 03-13-2008, 10:29 PM

Hi Eric, thanks for the pictures! I have to believe now, after reading the description for var. xishuangbannaensis and for var. itinerans, that you have var. itinerans. Interesting about having no fruit at all! Were there female flowers? If so, then it must be var. itinerans, because var. xishuangbannaensis has basal hermaphrodite flowers and you would have some seeded fruit hanging there. Another way to tell is to cut a petiole and see what color the sap is. If it is watery-red, it is var. xishuangbannaensis. If it is var. itinerans, it will have watery milky sap. How long are the longest rhizomes? Seems like some of them were upwards of 10 feet or so, right? Var. itinerans is only supposed to have a maximum rhizome length of 2 meters. Maybe it is another, as yet undescribed variety of Musa itinerans! Email me if you still have my email address, please.

03-13-2008, 10:29 PM	#2 (permalink)
bigdog ******* bigdog's Photo Gallery** Location: Gainesville, FL Find me on the map! Zone: 8b Name: Frank Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,002 BananaBucks : 745,309 Feedback: 7 / 100% Said "Thanks" 213 Times Was Thanked 1,787 Times in 502 Posts Said "Welcome to Bananas" 131 Times	Re: flowering Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis/itinerans update Hi Eric, thanks for the pictures! I have to believe now, after reading the description for var. xishuangbannaensis and for var. itinerans, that you have var. itinerans. Interesting about having no fruit at all! Were there female flowers? If so, then it must be var. itinerans, because var. xishuangbannaensis has basal hermaphrodite flowers and you would have some seeded fruit hanging there. Another way to tell is to cut a petiole and see what color the sap is. If it is watery-red, it is var. xishuangbannaensis. If it is var. itinerans, it will have watery milky sap. How long are the longest rhizomes? Seems like some of them were upwards of 10 feet or so, right? Var. itinerans is only supposed to have a maximum rhizome length of 2 meters. Maybe it is another, as yet undescribed variety of Musa itinerans! Email me if you still have my email address, please.