View Full Version : Help with details
NotherNana
05-15-2009, 06:16 AM
Good morning everyone! :)
I have been looking at a nursery site Bob says is good, and would like to know if this particular banana is only ornamental or produces fruit. Also, what does the flower look like?
Thanks to all,
Gino
Here is link: Northern Tropics Greenhouse - Musa Bordelon- a beautiful tropical banana red leaves (http://northerntropics.mybisi.com/product/22427/Musa-Bordelon-a-beautiful-tropical-banana-red-leaves_17959.html)
Bananaman88
05-15-2009, 06:18 AM
'Bordelon' does not produce edible fruit. Not sure what the flower looks like. If you do a search for it under the photo galleries you may come up with something.
Tog Tan
05-15-2009, 08:12 AM
Gino, what are you really looking for? If you want edible cultivars, there is a limit to the ornamental quality/look of the bloom. They are all pendulous and look similar except for the color of the bud. On the other hand, if you want flowering species, they can be spectacular. More details of your requirements please.....
NotherNana
05-15-2009, 08:32 AM
Edible is the answer Tog. I asked about the flower so that I can learn to distinguish one species from another, and you just gave me a clue :)
Thanks!
Gino
PS: From reading other posts, see you collect(ed) studied reptiles? My wife is the biggest frog enthusiast I believe lives on earth. My house full or chirping crickets to feed them, she constantly studies, even has microscope for disease finding uses. She tells me the song of the cricket I should appreciate, they are 'good luck in the house!' I am glad I do like the sounds of nature, or I could not sleep! :)
Tog Tan
05-15-2009, 09:16 AM
Edible is the answer Tog. I asked about the flower so that I can learn to distinguish one species from another, and you just gave me a clue :)
Thanks!
Gino
PS: From reading other posts, see you collect(ed) studied reptiles? My wife is the biggest frog enthusiast I believe lives on earth. My house full or chirping crickets to feed them, she constantly studies, even has microscope for disease finding uses. She tells me the song of the cricket I should appreciate, they are 'good luck in the house!' I am glad I do like the sounds of nature, or I could not sleep! :)
Treat yourself to an early Christmas/Anniversary/Birthday Present(hey whatever excuse you can pile in:ha:) and get either the AeAe or a Variegated Kluay Nam Wah.
I am sure you know the AeAe, growing it is a joy enough though it gets big.
Coming to the Variegated Kluay Nam Wah, when planted in a pot, it's won't get bigger than 5ft p-stem height. You can still take it in for winter. Now coming to the fruits...yum...so very buttery when eaten fully ripen or simmered in butter. The only thing is the variegation is not as white as the AeAe.
Yea Gino, I was in the reptile trade before but no more, I use to go frogging whenever it rains and most of the time the catch is good. We have many endemic species here. Ask your wife which is the biggest frog in the world? I am not testing her but I am interested from her point of view!
Here's a pix of my plant.
<a href=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=17378><img src=http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=17378&size=1 border=0></a>
NotherNana
05-15-2009, 09:40 AM
She tells me it depends upon how smart one is. She says; 'Frogs are frogs, TOADS are frogs, but (She said i got this wrong yesterday on original post so on may 16th morning i corrected...again the following:) FROGS are not toads?' (what the heck????)
She goes on to say, 'bufo marinus...largest TOAD. African species goliath' biggest frogs. She tells me males even guard their tadpoles. ???? What?
Gino
I just do the crickets :)
<img src=''http://www.ginodiavonti.com/miscellanious6/goliath.png">
NotherNana
05-15-2009, 09:41 AM
By the way, what time is it in the world there Tog? :)
Also, you will think me a 'woossey', but she kills spiders here. i hate bugs, she has no fear unless it is the giant floridian cockroach...then she screams, calling for me, and I have to 'be the man' , aand pound the damned thing to death. meanwhile, it's all a show, I fear/hate the monster bug too!!!!!
But she smiles and thanks me, so all ends well in my small kingdom :)
Tog Tan
05-15-2009, 09:58 AM
She tells me it depends upon how smart one is. She says; 'Frogs are frogs, TOADS are frogs, but (this I edited) TOADS are not frogs?' (what the heck????)
She goes on to say, 'bufo marinus...largest TOAD. African species goliath' biggest frogs. She tells me males even guard their tadpoles. ???? What?
Gino
I just do the crickets :)
There's a big diff between toads and frogs. Except for the Poison dart frogs from South America, all others do not have a gland which can secrete poison. On the other hand, all toads are poisonous.
As I said, I was not and still am not testing her cos according to the official record, she is right! In the herpetological circle on the academic side, the biggest frog in the world comes from Malaysia! It is the Rana blythii syn macrodon. They are huge and get to be 5 kg or 11 lbs in weight.
I had one as a pet before, and it is a very calm critter. However, I don't and cannot afford to feed it crickets(too tiny) like your missus, I have to feed it laboratory rats or 1 wk old chicks! :ha::ha::ha:
By the way, what time is it in the world there Tog? :)
Gino
10.50pm. Since I am lousy sleeper, I am on line till my morning hours like 5-6am!:ha:
NotherNana
05-15-2009, 10:02 AM
Tog, she wants me off the keyboard so she can look up this frog. She also says thank you for new info. You scientists all alike, what a great life :)
(edit part) Always inspiring for an artist to love scientist:) ) my muse she is.
Gino
lorax
05-15-2009, 10:02 AM
See, and you have to come to me for the toxic true frogs. Poison-darts are native to my jungles, and I practise catch-and-release with them occasionally (usually when I have darts to tip, truth be told.) I'd never keep them as pets, though; they do better in the true jungle and not my backyard (besides which my cat thinks all frogs are fair game, and I love her too much to keep toxic ones around) My fave is an unassuming little one, Ameerega parvula (Ruby dart frog), because its song is so sweet.
Tog's another insomniac workoholic, Gino.
Tog Tan
05-15-2009, 10:27 AM
Tog, she wants me off the keyboard so she can look up this frog. She also says thank you for new info. You scientists all alike, what a great life :)
(edit part) Always inspiring for an artist to love scientist:) ) my muse she is.
Gino
Fyi Gino, I started life as a commercial artist then turned advertising photographer. It was during this period that I was involved in a project with plants and then reptiles which side tracked me. I am retired from the creative world professionally and now concentrate only on my rare ornamental plant business. We three do have alot in common! :ha::ha::ha:
Gabe15
05-15-2009, 12:04 PM
If anyone is still interested, here is our wiki entry on 'Bordelon' with some photos of the inflorescence.
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 06:35 AM
Gabe, supposed to be a link up there? I am not finding one? Thank you :)
Gino
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 06:37 AM
Tog, I'd be highly interested in seeing some of your commercial work from the past, if you felt like sharing :)
Gino
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 06:42 AM
Lorax,
You actually tip darts with the frog stuff???? Wow, I have heard of this. Can you eat whatever has been poisoned? Or do you have to cut away the flesh that was stuck? Do you have to kill the frog to do this? :(
Gino
PS
<img src="http://www.ginodiavonti.com/miscellanious6/goliath.png">
alpha010
05-16-2009, 11:25 AM
I want one of those frogs!! Maybe it'll get the mice out from under my shed and in my basement.
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 12:17 PM
Nichole tells me that they are one of few frogs in world who actually do eat mice! :) But says to CARE for the frog is much more intense, says if you don't know about frog care to start with, maybe stick with cats :)
Gino
Tog Tan
05-16-2009, 12:53 PM
Nichole tells me that they are one of few frogs in world who actually do eat mice! :) But says to CARE for the frog is much more intense, says if you don't know about frog care to start with, maybe stick with cats :)
Gino
The frog in question is the African Pixie frog aka Giant African Bullfrog, Pyxicephalus adsperus. The males get pretty big as can be seen from the pix. This chap will eat anything which can fit into its mouth even its own kind. I find it very intelligent and does not grab the owner's hand even if it's hungry. It gets very tame and can be handled easily being that it is not a slimy critter. The male will guard the tadpoles with their life fiercely when there is danger. However, once the little ones have metamorphized, it becomes food! The young froglets with their instinct for survival will actually turn on to each other and only the strongest and luckiest ones survived to adulthood. A great undemanding and long lived pet. Very rewarding to keep.
Eat mice? Mine eats retired big breeder hamsters or even medium sized rats! :ha: In the wild they eat, snakes, birds, and fish.
LilRaverBoi
05-16-2009, 01:27 PM
Wow...this thread got pretty off topic! (then again, on the other forums I'm on it's pretty typical) I'm always down for a good herpetological discussion, though!
Anywho...back on track, here's a musa bordelon inflorescence pic I found on the wiki page:
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=2618&size=1&filefix=.jpg
There are some other good pics and info on there, so be sure to check it out here! (http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musa_Bordelon) As far as I have read it DOES produce edible fruit...not sure what it's like, though.
When in doubt, ask the wiki page! There should be a link on the blue bar at the top (right next to 'classified'). ENJOY!
lorax
05-16-2009, 03:44 PM
Lorax,
You actually tip darts with the frog stuff???? Wow, I have heard of this. Can you eat whatever has been poisoned? Or do you have to cut away the flesh that was stuck? Do you have to kill the frog to do this? :(
Gino
I do, when I'm in the upper Amazon and hunting what is colloquially called a turkey. They're actually something else entirely, more like large crows. I have to cook the meat really well, but beyond that it's never been a problem. The technique is to catch a frog, blow on it so that it foams up, rub the dart in the foam, and let the frog go. So no, it doesn't kill or even harm the frog in any way. I've used a milder frog, which is blue, to stun monkeys in the past, so that I can move them away from my bananas safely without being bitten and without harming the monkey.
Nothing beats a blowgun when you're trying to be stealthy! Mine is 7' long and made of two interlocking slices of chonta palm.
I'm so glad we don't have cane toads here! Yeek.
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 04:06 PM
The cane toads killed one of my chow chow dogs back in the 80's. It lived in our backyard, and Nichole would not let me kill it. (killing frogs a crime to her, she has almost made me wreck car over not hitting a frog!) I even saw them eat dogfood out of the dog dish, no kidding. Anyway, I know it was the toad that killed the frog, because Nichole found dog one morning with foam around the mouth. she said that's the after effect from the dog biting the toad's back. :(
Gino
NotherNana
05-16-2009, 04:08 PM
Lil'Raver Boi,
Thanks so muc for the photo. Beautiful flower! :) Yeah, we got off topic, but frogs are cool too. You should see my house, looks like frog museum! :)
Gino
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