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View Full Version : can you ID from a very brief description only?


51st state
01-29-2008, 04:26 PM
try this

location Jyntea hills of NE India

"A small plantain with austere woolly scarlet fruit"

any ideas anyone?

magicgreen
01-29-2008, 06:53 PM
Kev, this is hard. Is it a vanda caerulea, orchid or fig? Couldnt be a banyan tree could it?
Whats the answer!

bigdog
01-29-2008, 07:29 PM
There's only one banana that comes to mind with "wooly" scarlet (well, pink) fruit, and that is Musa velutina. I'd hardly call it a plantain or austere though!:abajo:

51st state
01-30-2008, 03:20 AM
Yea, I thought it could be Velutina. Its just the mention of scarlet rather than pink fruit that surprises me.

but bearing in mind this is near Assam, I wondered if it could be X Assamica.

The description is by botanist J D Hooker, so it'll definitely be a Musa.

leads me to the conclusion that there's probably still quite a few species out there to go find.

Bananaman88
01-30-2008, 12:54 PM
I agree with BigDog, based on this very limited description!

magicgreen
01-30-2008, 01:31 PM
51state I read that article by J.D. Hooker and it didnt say anything about Musa! but it did talk about banyan trees, vanda caerula, orchids and figs!
He talked about the climate,terrain, people, but he didnt specifically say Velutina!
I thought velutina, but i thought you might of been looking for something else!
I'll read it again.......all he said was small plantain w/wooley scarlet fruit in Jyntea.
I guess thats my answer......DUH>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

51st state
01-31-2008, 02:50 PM
its the spellings that get me

Jyntea hills is now Jaintia Hills

and looking on google earth, there could be just about anything uo in those hills, it looks very sparsly populated.

I really need to get over there and have a good look