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Ensete lasiocarpum, Musella lasiocarpa, Musa lasiocarpa

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Because of its suckering habit, it is important to give plants plenty of spacing.

Ensete lasiocarpum is a unique and attractive addition to the home garden. It is a large, evergreen shrub that can grow up to 5 - 10 feet tall and 2-5 feet wide. Native to mountainous areas in the Yunnan Province of China, its paddle-like gray-green leaves and yellow, orange flowers make it a stunning ornament in any garden. It typically blooms throughout the summer, producing an upright inflorescence of yellow tubular flowers subtended by broad, stiff, waxy, yellow bracts. Flowering usually begins in the second year and continues annually thereafter.

Ensete lasiocarpum can be grown in full sun or semi-shade, in well-drained soil, and with regular watering. It is generally winter-hardy in USDA Zone 7-10, but may survive cold winters in Zone 6 if well-protected with a thick winter mulch over the root area. For areas outside of the recommended zones 7-10, it is best to grow this plant in containers, using a well-drained potting soil mix. In order to prevent freezing in winter, containers with Ensete lasiocarpum should be brought indoors before the first frost and placed in a warm, sunny area, with reduced soil moisture. Alternatively, they can be brought into a cool, frost-free basement corner and given occasional touches of moisture in winter to prevent the soils from totally drying out. Plants should also be given ample spacing, as they have a tendency to sucker.

In terms of care, Ensete lasiocarpum should be fertilized regularly during the growing season. Mulching the soil is a recommended practice, as this helps retain moisture and minimizes weeds. In cold regions, growth in a pot is best recommended, as this will provide a much better protection from frost, and ensure the plant survival. Pots should be placed in a sheltered area, such as a patio or porch, and mulching with straw or evergreen boughs is an effective way to insulate the soil. In addition, a covering of burlap or old blankets can be used to protect the leaves from cold winds.

Ensete ventricosum, Musa arnoldiana, Musa ensete Maurelii

This banana-like perennial has large paddle-shaped leaves, which range in color from deep claret brown to red-purple to pale green, produced from the center of the plant, with thick midribs bright red beneath. White flowers are borne in inflorescences 3 to 4 feet long. Fruits are banana-like but dry and unpalatable. Large reddish leaves. Reaches 20 feet or more.

See Article about Ensete ventricosum.

Musa sp.

Bananas are fast-growing herbaceous perennials arising from underground rhizomes. The fleshy stalks or pseudostems formed by upright concentric layers of leaf sheaths constitute the functional trunks. The true stem begins as an underground corm which grows upwards, pushing its way out through the center of the stalk 10-15 months after planting, eventually producing the terminal inflorescence which will later bear the fruit. Each stalk produces one huge flower cluster and then dies. New stalks then grow from the rhizome. Banana plants are extremely decorative, ranking next to palm trees for the tropical feeling they lend to the landscape. The banana inflorescence shooting out from the heart in the tip of the stem, is at first a large, long-oval, tapering, purple-clad bud. As it opens, the slim, nectar-rich, tubular, toothed, white flowers appear. They are clustered in whorled double rows along the the floral stalk, each cluster covered by a thick, waxy, hood like bract, purple outside and deep red within. The flowers occupying the first 5 - 15 rows are female. As the rachis of the inflorescence continues to elongate, sterile flowers with abortive male and female parts appear, followed by normal staminate ones with abortive ovaries. The two latter flower types eventually drop in most edible bananas. The ovaries contained in the first (female) flowers grow rapidly, developing parthenocarpically (without pollination) into clusters of fruits, called hands. The number of hands varies with the species and variety. The fruit (technically a berry) turns from deep green to yellow or red, and may range from 2-1/2 to 12 inches in length and 3/4 to 2 inches in width. The flesh, ivory-white to yellow or salmon-yellow, may be firm, astringent, even gummy with latex when unripe, turning tender and slippery, or soft and mellow or rather dry and mealy or starchy when ripe. The flavor may be mild and sweet or subacid with a distinct apple tone. The common cultivated types are generally seedless with just vestiges of ovules visible as brown specks. Occasionally, cross-pollination with wild types will result in a number of seeds in a normally seedless variety. Bananas require as much warmth as can be given them. Additional warmth can be given by planting next to a building. Planting next to cement or asphalt walks or driveways also helps. Wind protection is advisable, not for leaf protection as much as for protection of the plant after the banana stalk has appeared. During these last few months propping should be done to keep the plant from tipping or being blown over.

Musa Praying Hands - produces perhaps the most unusual and distinctive of all banana fruits. Two adjacent hands of bananas are fused, giving the appearance of praying hands. This is not just a collectors item, the fruits are delicious ripe, containing a hint of vanilla flavor. When totally ripe, individual bananas can be carefully separated from each other. An excellent all-around plant with some wind resistance; it is very collectible.

All eating bananas are triploid varieties of M. acuminata x bulbisiana.

There are numerous cultivars of Cooking banana.