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View Full Version : Wild Ensete ventricosum


Gabe15
06-28-2008, 01:33 AM
I picked up this Ensete ventrisocum today at a nursery in West Hollywood (XOTX Tropico, one of the most amazing places in the world for plants nerds). It was grown from seed collected in Mozambique. It has a nice red pseudostem and definitely looks unique, he has many of these still at the nursery if anyone is interested.

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=10739&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=10739)

mskitty38583
06-28-2008, 02:13 AM
gabe you hit the mother load. that is a beautiful nana. congrats on the find.

dablo93
06-28-2008, 10:05 AM
beautiful ,! that stem looks really red.

Chironex
06-28-2008, 12:52 PM
Gabe, I will take one after you TC it. lol

SteveW
06-29-2008, 07:34 AM
Looks very similar if not identical to what we call hiniba over here.So its good to know its still out there somewhere.

Tropicallvr
06-29-2008, 02:04 PM
so maybe it's a heat tolerant form of Ensete ventricosum from Mozambique?

51st state
06-29-2008, 02:11 PM
Could be Hiniba (which has a more upright habit than normal Ventricosum). I call that form Ensete Ventricosum 'red rib'. Just popped out and took this photo...

Gabe15
06-29-2008, 02:47 PM
There are many, many different forms of E. ventricosum. In Ethiopia, there are over 50 named varieties used for food, and wild populations of any plant often have lots of diversity. This particular color form is likely not referable to any variety currently on the market. The pseudostem and petioles are very similar to Musa 'Jamaican Red' colorwise.

Dean W.
06-29-2008, 03:20 PM
Gabe, how are you going to get it back to Hawaii?:bunchonanas:

SteveW
06-29-2008, 03:23 PM
Managed to find a couple of recentish pics of the hiniba thats planted out in the garden,might not be the best quality but you can see its got the same dark red petioles and glaucus undersides on the leaves.
730

731

Mark Hall
06-30-2008, 04:14 AM
Steve, Your plant of Hiniba looks different to Gabes plant. His has a deep red trunk whereas yours is more green.

I never knew there were so many different types of ensete.

My Hiniba refuses to grow:(. I have had it over a year now and its no bigger than when I first got it.

I checked the roots last week and there wasn't any( shock horror) so its now been cleaned up re potted into a smaller pot and given some palmbooster to try and kick start it into growth.

Chironex
07-12-2008, 08:28 PM
That is one beautiful EV! Hope you get some seeds soon. I would love to try it.