Musa beccarii Banana

Product Details:

Ships late May 2010.

Musa beccarii - A striking ornamental banana species. Inflorescence closely resembles that of Musa uranoscopus, but not as large. Plant is a tall 10 to 12 feet slender species with long slim leaves. Makes an outstanding cut flower. Inflorescence deep red with greenish-yellow tips. A great container plant.

Corms: Corms look like bulbs on the outside and often have the same protective sort of covering. They also have a central growing point where the pseudostem and/or flower will emerge and a basal plate just like that of the bulb. Bananas, Crocus, gladiolus, and freesias all grow from corms. Corms will not show layers like a true bulb does if you cut them. The corm is actually a base for the pseudostem and/or flower stem packed with nutrients and quite solid in texture. As the pseudostem and/or flower starts to grow, the corm shrivels as its nutrients are used up. The corm creates new corms either on top of or next to the desiccated ones. The corms of bananas will die once the plant blooms and produces bananas and new corms will form attached to the old corm, these new corms produce new banana plants called suckers. Because it can take 9 to 15 months for some bananas to bloom and produce fruit it is possible for the original corm to live more than one year. This is not the case with corms that produce flowers every year; they will die once they have produced flowers. Most of your ornamental bananas will produce flowers every year. The bananas that generally bloom every year would be Musa ornata varieties. The 'Rojo' banana is a variety that does not bloom or make bananas, and is generally used for its beautiful colors in the landscape as an ornamental banana. Stokes Tropicals' Banana Blend (6-2-12) is the best fertilizer source for these fascinating tropical giants.