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View Full Version : newbie ??...how to tell which banana grows in my garden...


jjjankovsky
08-04-2009, 06:41 PM
I humbly ask all you folk how you know what you have?...Where do you go for info on that green leafy thing in your backyard? Did the nursery tell you?...or the friend who gave you the pup?

I'm in Bananaville, Mexico...and the names of the cultivars I'm getting are usually 'common names'...and in Spanish...(go figure...)

I now have but four varieties...so named: commercial; dominicos; paras; and a new one, un-named(great big purple fruit, very sweet and to eat out of hand)...it's pretty easy here to bring home something new

I don't think they are exotic, in fact, I think they are probably very well known.

How can I identify them?

Simply Bananas
08-04-2009, 08:03 PM
send pics

lorax
08-04-2009, 08:06 PM
The unnamed great big purple one, which I'll bet you a Maqueno is called Morado or Rosado locally, is 'Lacatan' aka 'Cuban/Jamaican Red' - the flesh is sort of pinkish, too, isn't it?

Dominicos are plantains, usually 'Giant Plantain' but sometimes 'French Horn'

Parras or Paras are usually 'Orinoco' or 'Dwarf Orinoco'

Comerciales are nearly always 'Cavendish' or 'Gran Nain', and occasionally they're ripe 'Silk Plantain'.

jjjankovsky
08-04-2009, 08:18 PM
to all...while i appreciate your input, the question remains...how might one discover these truths without the experts...where is the reference library?

and i'll send pics too...

sunfish
08-04-2009, 08:22 PM
Try the Wiki or Encanto farms for photos and discriptions

lorax
08-04-2009, 10:45 PM
John, I've also got this lovely massive list of edible cultivar descriptors, and I can't recall where I might have found it. I think somebody else here sent it to me, and I'm not sure where they got it either. It strikes me that it might be from the Bioversity.

I'll attach it here so that you can grab it. Best of luck!

To answer your question, it was by asking other people here that I figured out what the 'Ingles' cultivar names are for the various South American bananas I grow and have encountered, and what the various and assorted features of these bananas are so that I can look at them and say "oh, it's an Orito" or whatever.

:lurk:

harveyc
08-05-2009, 01:18 AM
Beth, that's Richard's information. I posted a link to it 2-3 months ago. I think Richard first posted it about a year or so ago.

jjjankovsky
08-05-2009, 06:25 AM
thanks beth...that's a very good start...

Jack Daw
08-05-2009, 06:32 AM
John, I've also got this lovely massive list of edible cultivar descriptors, and I can't recall where I might have found it. I think somebody else here sent it to me, and I'm not sure where they got it either. It strikes me that it might be from the Bioversity.

I'll attach it here so that you can grab it. Best of luck!

To answer your question, it was by asking other people here that I figured out what the 'Ingles' cultivar names are for the various South American bananas I grow and have encountered, and what the various and assorted features of these bananas are so that I can look at them and say "oh, it's an Orito" or whatever.

:lurk:
Now that's a great .pdf file. I can't believe I didn't notice it the first time Richard posted it. :D Thanks.

jjjankovsky
08-07-2009, 05:39 AM
since i asked the original question, i've been snooping around this site and somewhere stumbled over a very detailed discussion concerning the identification issues...wow!

so, i'll just post a pic ot two of one variety the locals call 'paras'

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii158/dryhouse/paras.jpg

http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii158/dryhouse/para2.jpg

the fruit is starchy untill the very last, then it's sweet for the day prior to going bad, and the plant is 12-15' tall

can you help?

Bananaman88
08-07-2009, 06:21 AM
Your "paras" look suspiciously like 'Orinoco' and your taste description certainly fits, though mine certainly taste good for more than one day.

Dalmatiansoap
08-07-2009, 06:26 AM
Realy how long?
:woohoonaner:

djmb74
08-07-2009, 08:26 AM
they look just like the ones hanging in my garden waiting to get ripe...

We planted some of the Orinoco's we dug up from the banana forest the kids found in four different spots around the house! hehe

lorax
08-07-2009, 08:27 AM
Yup - I'd say that the Paras are 'Orinoco' as well (as I did way up in the first post) - pics confirm it nicely. Why do you say that they're only sweet for a day? I've always found that for eating out of hand, Orinoco fruit is good well past the point of superficial blackness.

jjjankovsky
08-07-2009, 12:36 PM
so...in the wiki, the orinoco is said to be about 6 feet tall...this one is 12+???

djmb74
08-07-2009, 12:44 PM
I would think that 6ft tall is the dwarf Orinoco as there are some growing by me that are 20ft tall

Jack Daw
08-07-2009, 12:47 PM
so...in the wiki, the orinoco is said to be about 6 feet tall...this one is 12+???
Well that's for Dwarf Orinoco, Tall Orinocos grow way too higher than that. ;)

jjjankovsky
08-07-2009, 02:48 PM
so,,,with what you say, it looks as if the wiki needs some editing:

"9. YOU HAVE AN EDIBLE EUMUSA a. rounded leaf bases....go to 10. b. non rounded leaf bases.... go to 11.

10. YOU HAVE AN ABB. a. big ass plant (20-30ft), rounded male bud, plump angled fruit...Musa 'Saba' b. large plant (10-15ft), bluish green angled fruit...Musa 'Ice Cream' c. medium sized plant (10-12ft), few hands of green strongly angled fruit... Musa 'Orinoco' d. small plant (4-6ft), few hands of green strongly angled fruit...Musa 'Dwarf Orinoco' c. fused fingers...Musa 'Praying Hands' "

and, as an aside, this exercise has helped me in how to begin identification...thanks all