View Single Post
Old 12-26-2008, 10:17 AM   #40 (permalink)
lorax
Banned
 
lorax's Avatar
 
Location: Ecuador, South America
Zone: USDA 13 / Köppen-Geiger BSh
Name: Lorax
Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 2,532
BananaBucks : 300,763
Feedback: 0 / 0%
Said "Thanks" 742 Times
Was Thanked 3,039 Times in 1,188 Posts
Said "Welcome to Bananas" 464 Times
Default Re: Musa acuminata subsp truncata

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tog Tan View Post
...melanism of the pseudostem, I am very curious and interested in the following;
1. As they have been at a higher altitude, are they genectically 'fixed' in its coloration?
2. When they are being grown at almost at sea level will the seedlings I collected at 4,000 ft asl become greener?
3. Will the future pups in time revert to green?
Tog, I can't speak to the M. acuminata situation, but here's what I've noticed with Ensete ventricosum.

I'll remind you that I live at about 10,000 feet asl. Here, E. ventricosum gets slightly stunted by the altitude and has an almost black psuedotrunk on the outer layer. I took pups off of an impressive mother plant and traded them for a new cultivar of red plantains, with a friend who lives on the beach, let's say 0 feet asl. The pups appeared to have the melanism when I separated them. They've grown up now, and they're almost solid green on the trunks; additionally they're not stunted the way that the mother was.

So I'd conclude that for Ensete at least, the melanism is a reaction to conditions.
lorax is offline   Reply With Quote Send A Private Message To lorax
Said thanks: