TommyMacLuckie

I'll get a picture at some point but I wanted to describe a banana plant that I thought was something else (what that was I can't remember that either). The fronds are lightly pleated (for lack of a better term) and the fruit is a deep red, upright, stunted. As in, short and fat, almost like an odd long ball. The plant themselves are not very tall. I'm not certain if it is ornamental or edible.

I can't find my banana book again, hence this.

Any ideas?

pitangadiego

Lasiocarpa???

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Bananaman88

Musella lasiocarpa doesn't have red fruit...at least mine have never been red.

Are you saying that this plant looks like a banana in most respects?

john_ny

Are you talking about "fei"? Seems there was some discussion, here, about that a while back. I remembered the pictures of the upright red fruit. I searched for it, and I think I got the thread, but all the pictures were gone.

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TommyMacLuckie

Oh it's a banana plant alright. I saw some pictures of it here this summer but I can't remember! The fruit looks almost like balls, only somewhat squat looking. Not round but if you were to compress a football almost. If I could find my little cord I'd upload a picture of it.

chong

Here is a a recent discussion about Fe'i and other South Pacific bananas: Colored Bananas...

A previous discussion on this was in regards to a question from a member (BananaAddict) regarding Pisang Kates: Pisang Kates

Does the plant look like this attachment? The banana in the picture is called "Karat Pwehu", the smaller of the two Karats with fruits that are shaped like papayas. The larger fruited one is called "Karat Pako".

Attached Images

Karat.pdf (236.9 KB, 7 views)

TommyMacLuckie

I've been searching and searching and this is the closest thing I could find. Looks right. MB-02 Musa "Velutina" from alohatropicals.com

Bananaman88

If you weren't saying the fruits were red I'd say maybe 'Pitogo' or 'Hua Moa' but again, not red. Maybe it was one of the Fe'i types, as Chong suggested. They do have upright fruit stalks, though I think some are not fully upright from the photos I've seen.

TommyMacLuckie

Eh, I guess that's not exactly red huh!

Of all the bananas, the Velutina has the most fronds and has shown the most growth so far - and fastest - from the severe damage of the January freeze of '010!

Ha ha.

The only other real signs of growth have been with Bordelons and Ornatas, with the Bords starting completely over and the Ornatas coming back from being cut down low as well as brand new. Orinocos are very slow and some have unfurled a part of a leaf while others have slowly still gotten out of the goo.

That's it. Everything else shows zero signs so far.