tyoro0219

Is this banana Musa ingens?


This banana is sold in Banana nursery in Thailand. (Height is 24 - 30 feet. flower is red or white)
But, Nursery owner doesn't know scientific name. She said she bought this banana from another collector.

I am looking for musa ingens for a long time, but I had never seen it except for pic.
If you know what kind of this banana, please teach me about this banana.

I think that this is Ensete glaucum, because it looks like same.
But maybe , height over 30feet are only two kinds in the world, Musa ingens and the Musa yuannensis.

bigdog

Definitely Ensete glaucum. 5 meters or so is the maximum (pseudostem) height for this species.

mrbungalow

The plant in the photo is definatly ensete glaucum.

Everyone talks about Musa Ingens but nobody ever mentions Musa Boman wich is similar to musa ingens, but have superior advantages such as tolerance of hot conditions, posible to sprout from seed, and vigourous growth.

It is supposed to be easy to sprout (according to Gabe), and grows to about the same height as musa ingens with 150 cm (5 feet) girth at the base. It is also said to be a lowland-species (collected in Vanimo/ Papua New Guinea, according to Inibap), so it will most likely be much easier to grow than ingens. I think Gabe is the only one in the western hemisphere with seeds of this species, so it's still extremely rare.

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tyoro0219

Thank you for your comment.

Yes, I know such a thing.
I attached pic which is pseudostem of Ensete glaucum.

Its surface has white powder, and part at the base is swelling up.

I think that this banana is Ensete glaucum, it has gene which becomes big specially

Gabe15

Yes that looks to be Ensete glaucum.

On Musa boman and M. ingens. M. boman is similar in that it is very large (to 30-35ft) , however this species differs in chromosome count so is not a member of the Ingentimusa. I had seeds of an unknown very large wild Musa from PNG which has potential to be M. boman, but I do not know what it is, currently I have one small plant from those seeds. M. ingens is a very impractical species for many growers, you need a higher altitude to grow it because it will not tolerate nights as warm as days, the nights need to be cool like in the highlands. I am not sure on the culture requirements of M. boman, but it is not really available anywhere. I requested some M. boman from the ITC genebank but it was not FAO designated so they could not send it, but maybe in the future they will be able to.

I have heard a story about 30m M. ingens, I cannot verify this but I am waiting to see if I can get pictures from the man who found them.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Chironex

Gabe, do you still have the plant? Ever get the pics?

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Scot

Gabe15

The plant is still alive, pictures below. I never did get the pictures of the supposed really huge ones, but maybe one day.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

Chironex

And let's not forget good 'ole M. itinerans var. xishuangbannaensis that is second to M. ingens in height at 12 meters! (formerly known as 'Gigantea')

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Scot