Wow Wow Wow.....
 

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

Pardon my enthusiasm, but my next-door neighbor works with the state when it comes to agriculture
issues or when someone finds a snake (invasive species) that isn't supposed to be here. I told him one day
recently that I was looking for some not-too-easy-to-find Hawaiian bananas. He gave me the ph nbr
of a local gentleman that was studying those at U of H (and he knows Gabe!!). I called him up and asked
about some of the types I was looking for. He had one, the Ele Ele, and a few other types that have never
been discribed by the taxonomists (smart banana-plant people). As I was selecting an Ele Ele pup to dig,
I happened to glance around at his mini-jungle. I noticed that he had a few different types of Ko (sugar cane
in Hawaiian lingo). Some had striped canes, but I had seen those before so I didn't take particular interest.
One, however did catch my eye. It had green/yellow variegation on the cane. I looked up to the leaves,
and thought I was seeing the light playing tricks with the shadow. I went even closer and touched the leaf, and
got a really GOOD look. The thing was VARIEGATED WHITE & GREEN!!! I had never seen one before. I asked
him if he could spare some of it, and how much he wanted for a piece. I won't provide the details of the
exchange except that I left with a piece of it with viable buds! (and a promise to protect his privacy unless
he permits me otherwise). Yeah, yeah - I already know who wants one. You'll get it - just be a little patient
until mine is bigger.

He has one Hawaiian banana plant that I was interested in, but don't have the space for just yet. According to
him it is an un-named, and I assume unknown type. It was about 12 ft high at the p-stem, and had a medium size
bunch of red bananas. He said they would gradually turn yellow. He assured me that is was not a Iholena
Ula Ula (which was one of the ones I was looking for), but an un-categorized type. Once I have space, I'll ask if he
has a pup to spare.

Man!! I still can't believe I found this guy!! I have to make sure I remember both him and my neighbor quite generously
when the holidays come!

Photo of Ele Ele prior to my re-planting it. The young one doesn't have the dark markings yet, but I can assure
you that the mother plant did have them


This shows the variegated Ko. The top one has white variegated leaves.

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

Nice gesture,
post a pics whan U plant them!
:nanadrink:

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

WOW is right! So cool! Beautiful plants! I want to grow some Hawaiian bananas, I don't need to have those super rare kind though! But I hope to get the A'e A'e because I love the variegated leaves.

The Big Island is a beautiful place...as is all of HI. It is a very special place and dear to my heart...there is just "something" about HI.

I'd love to see photos of your plants/garden!

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

Yug,

I just found your photos...beautiful garden! That rare Cattleya is amazing! I can smell them from here!

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

Thanks much!

The guy I got the Ele Ele from also had an Ae Ae. I was told that only 25% of the pups are variegated - his had 5 pups and all were nicely variegated. I think he was surprised that I didn't ask for one of those. He also had some other Hawaiian bananas that he said were un-named, a few had a light maroon tint under the leaves. One particularly interesting banana has leaves that were marked with the maroon only on the outer third of the leaf with the midrib and the area surrounding it (the center third) a regular green color. It had edible fruit, too, but he said they were somewhat small.

He was growing some native taro (Kalo), too, and some of that was also variegated. I never knew any of the Hawaiian taro was variegated.

Interesting visit, and I learned some things, and got some great plants. Oh, I almost forgot, he mentioned that there was also a Hawaiian banana called Mahoi that also has double banana bunches (no, he didn't have any). He said it is only a Hawaiian type, and has no relation to the Chinese/Williams/Cavendish Double Mahoi that people are familiar with. Gabe, do you know anything about that? Also, which Hawaiian type has the inner leaf green, and the outer part maroon like I described above?

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

He is right. The true Hawaiian 'Mahoe' is either extinct or nearly so, and it is a Maoli/Popo'ulu banana. I've heard there may be a few left on the Big Island, and I'd be surprised if it wasn't hiding somewhere, but its not available at all.

I've seen a Hawaiian banana with the red leaf pattern you described, but it was unnamed.

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

There are huge areas of wild land on the Big Island so maybe some of those rare bananas are hiding out there...or in some old guy's garden! ;-) I would love to know more about Hawaiian bananas...the different kinds and their history, for example.

Re: Wow Wow Wow.....
 

I would say that Gabe is probably the best informed (and widest traveled) when it comes to banana info, including Hawaiian and other Polynesian types. I believe that he has a few threads on this site that go into some detail about them. I don't recall the thread starter, but if you do a search on his posts, I'm sure you'll find 'em.