buffy

For the love of everything good on this planet. Has anyone been able to acquire one of these. I tried and tried with TianZi for 4 years without success. Absolute failure. Somebody has to have one of these.

tony palmer

Hi Buffy,
I have never used this German company!
They have for sale Musa sp.nov giant flower seeds and that is said to be
Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis

Pflanzenversand Hans- Günter Röpke

Cheers,
Tony

bigdog

If the seeds on that site are from Tian Zi, then they are probably Musa itinerans var. itinerans. Eric from Leu Gardens in Orlando ordered those seeds and got a few to sprout, and it it turned out to be var. itinerans (the very plant of which I just sent you a pup, LOL!). Besides...Tian Zi hasn't offered seed in years, so I wonder how old those seeds are if they in fact do actually have the same seeds...

Frank

Markku Hakkinen

Musa itinerans var. xishuangbanna mature fruits are very difficult to locate as people are collecting the female buds and selling them in markets to be used as salad.
I know only two location of it in Xishuangbanna nature reserve areas from were we could find mature fruits but for both of them are very difficult location and one has to walk some five hours to reach the places through jungle.
Markku.

51st state

There are some in Germany. I lost mine last winter unfortunately

__________________
a>

go.sail

Hello,
is this the same as musa sp. yangtse or musa tibet?
I have them in in vitro propagation. I await the first 50 plants
in spring 2011.

b.rgds
Palmen , Bananen und andere Exoten im Ruhrgebiet - Home

RobG7aChattTN

Hey Frank (bigdog) don't you have some of these?!?!

Markku Hakkinen

Hi,
I donated my university botanic garden Musa collection (some 50 taxa) to ITC Leuven some two years ago.
This collection includes also var. xishuangbannaensis. However, these plants are not in distribution yet as they need to have virus indexes for all of them for phytosanitary purposes. Those ones who are making research with bananas can ask TC plantlets from ITC after they are releasing them.
Markku.

Markku Hakkinen

Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis is a distict species. Yours are Musa yunnanensis varieties.
Markku.

Markku Hakkinen

TianZi stopped seed selling already several years ago.
Markku.

tony palmer

Hi Markku,
Looking at your pictures of M. itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis it looks like they are under the canopy of a broadleaf evergreen forest, so I would guess they don’t experience much in the way of frost! are they found at higher elevation?


Thanks,
Tony

Caloosamusa

Good morning Markku,

The pictures you have posted have helped many of us with identification of the musa we have. The information you have provided is greatly appreciated, and the pictures make it even more enjoyable.

Markku Hakkinen

Here is quotation of my article published in Novon:
“In the southern regions of Yunnan, this plant is a common pioneer species in the succession process, after tropical rainforests have been destroyed. It grows in isolated canopy gaps in upper mountainous valleys and slopes, which have moist fertile soils up to 1600 metres elevation. It grows vigorously and it often develops in mono-dominated communities. The plant has a huge corm up to 1 metre high and 0.5 m in diameter, which can storage huge amount of nutrition and water for the dry season. It can tolerate the seasonal frost, which occurs January – February in higher elevations Xishuangbanna. The flower buds are commonly sold in markets for human consumption”.
Markku

Markku Hakkinen

Hi Tony,
Which photo are you talking about? It was an open gap made by man which caused for illegal logging. There were some 50 plants in open canopy. I saw also a lot of small seedlings.
Markku.

tony palmer

Thanks Markku,
I’m trying to establish whether it would be a hardy candidate for growing here in the UK but it doesn’t sound like it would, coming from 1600m, that isn’t high enough elevation for it to be considered hardy here; perhaps with some good protection it may be half-hardy though.
Is it the dry season in winter!
Here the winters are cold and wet so that could also be a problem too.



Thanks,
Tony

Dalmatiansoap

What would be its hardiness in your opinion in European zones?

__________________
https://abnb.me/AXJty518xib

Markku Hakkinen

Hi Tony,
I suppose that var. xishuangbannaensis could stand only 2 to 3 minus degrees freeze. Some of those M.yunnanensis varieties are much more cold hardier. However, in Sichuan I saw only M.basjoo variants and Musellas. In those climate are too cold for the other species. In Yunnan along Burma border to north the climate is much warmer compare to Sichuan.
Markku.

Markku Hakkinen

Hi,
I am not sure if some M.yunnanensis varieties are as cold hardy than M.basjoo varieties. Both of them can stand several degrees freeze and snow.
I am talking about the variants in temperature regions in China where they have cultivated for animal fodder by farmers up to elevation 2.6 Km. However, in Yunnan are M.yunnanensis varieties and Sichuan are M.basjoo varieties. These two species are not overlapping anywhere in china.
You have to notice that not all variants of them are not so cold hardy which depends on their origin.
Markku.

BB73

Hi everybody,

I have one in my garden at the holiday house we rent out in summer on the island of Skiathos (Greece). I bought it at Achim's Bananenshop in Austria. I also don't know where it exactly came from originally, so I can't help here really.

The picture is from April, when I planted it to the ground. I got it 6 months before as a small pup. I kept it on my balcony and it experienced a few light freezes and some weeks of very cool weather in winter. But it came through the cold period quite well.
It hasn't grown much since spring and suffered in the summer heat. But it's still alive! I hope it'll grow better in winter. I guess it's not a perfect plant for mediterranean climates, but also the soil at my place is not the best. Next time, I'll go there I'll post a new pic.
If there will be pups - maybe in spring - I would be happy to trade them. The only thing is, that I may not be able to provide a phytosanitary certificate. At least I don't have a clue how I could obtain one here in Greece. Maybe someone can help. (Kωστα, χερεις εσι; )

buffy

BB73: That does not appears to be Musa itinerans var xishuangbannensis. That appears to be M. yunnanensis. The white wax in the petioles identifies this as a mistake made by alot of buyers selling banana plants. Looking on Achim's website further verifies the identity with relatively close pictures. Cut a leaf off and see if it bleeds white or clear watery sap. Musa itinerans var. xishuangbannensis has red watery sap.