Log in

View Full Version : Musella lasiocarpa flower


bigdog
09-17-2006, 09:42 PM
This is the third growing season for this plant, and I have finally been rewarded with a flower :bananas_b . It spent the first winter protected by a bag-o-leaves, and last winter under the house (due to me moving). I've been looking forward to this, and haven't been disappointed! :0492:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=1252&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1252&ppuser=49)

Gard
09-19-2006, 08:30 AM
Wow, that is beatiful! Congratulations! :twonanners:

How tall is this one to the flower?

Gard

bigdog
09-19-2006, 08:48 PM
Thanks, Gard! It's only a couple of feet of pseudostem. This banana doesn't grow very tall, but the base of the pseudostem gets wider. One of my favorite plants, and a sacred flower of Buddhism also :nanerelectricguitar .

Gard
09-20-2006, 01:28 AM
Cool. I read that the flower will keep on for ages. I'll get seeds from this one! :2704:

Gard

AnnaJW
09-20-2006, 02:53 AM
Very beautiful!!! Congrats! :2708:

bigdog
05-16-2007, 09:37 PM
OK, after several months under a bag-o-leaves, I uncovered it in March to find it still flowering! Wow, what's the likelihood of that?? Then on Easter we had a 17F morning at my house (23F at the airport). I had it covered with a sheet, and it received some damage to the top of the flower. You can see the ends of the older bracts are brown, but it is growing out of it. Unlike Austin, I can only seem to get one flower per pseudostem!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3027&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3027&ppuser=49)

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3026&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3026&ppuser=49)

JoeS475
05-16-2007, 09:58 PM
My Musella story:
Mine is just starting its third year (since I bought it as a large 3' plant anyway). First winter I thought I totally killed it indoors, so I tossed it outside into the snow as trash in January. Must have been exposed to temps in the single digits or less multiple times with no protection except for a Home Depot plastic pot. By chance the next spring I found a little bit of green pushing through and so I revived it. It was slow, but made a full recovery. This past winter I let it go dormant in my 60 degree basement. Six months later I bring it out, looking like the day it went in, save for slight browning on the leaf edges. Now its growing fast and strong despite cold nights, and I'm really hoping for a flower.

I noticed Austin's other flowers were coming out of the side of the p-stem: I have what looks like a green leaf or 2 trying to come out in the same spot, so maybe I'll be one of the lucky ones with multiple flowers. I can hope!

Its a hardy little bastard anyway! Congrats on the long lasting flower, great pics!

~Joe

MediaHound
05-16-2007, 10:14 PM
I threw one of those new pics into the wiki.
http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Musella_Lasiocarpa

austinl01
05-16-2007, 10:17 PM
Frank, it's amazing that the banana is still flowering. It doesn't look like it went through any freezing temperatures over the winter. Great work. Here is a picture my flower trio. I got really lucky with this banana. I don't know what I did to cause it to make three flowers. I separated some pups so maybe it stressed it out a little bit. I wonder if there's a secret to make it produce multiple flowers.
:goteam:

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2/austinl01/M.jpg

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c2/austinl01/M-1.jpg

Mark Hall
05-17-2007, 03:27 AM
Austin those pictures are unbeliveable. I never knew you could get multi heads from one plant. if the wasps pollenate you could be in for lots of seeds.

Your pictures are very clear and crisp.

These pics were taken at a local nursery near me showing some of his Lasios in flower.

austinl01
05-23-2007, 10:11 PM
Mark, I still find it hard to believe myself. My musella must like me or something! :sumbrero: I am hand pollinating the little bananas in hopes for lots of seeds. How many seeds does each banana contain?

Those pictures of the musellas at the nursery are impressive. He has a lot of flowering at the same time.

austinl01
05-24-2007, 11:09 PM
This is unbelievable...my musella is getting another set of twins from the pseudostem!!! This plant will have 5 flowers on one pseudostem: one on the top and four on the stem. I couldn't believe it when I discovered today what was happening. I'll be sure to post this plant when the other two flowers open up.

:goteam:

austinl01
05-24-2007, 11:09 PM
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/data/500/medium/Late_May_2007_005.jpg

JoeS475
05-25-2007, 01:12 PM
Since I'm expecting a flower this summer I was wondering if musella sends up a flag leaf like musa, or if it just goes straight to flower?

Thanks,

~Joe

bigdog
05-25-2007, 06:49 PM
Joe, the leaves get progressively smaller, and you will know when the flower is ready to push through. The leaves tend to "flatten" out to horizontal also. Here's what mine looked like right before it flowered:

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3117&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3117&ppuser=49)

BGreen
05-26-2007, 07:32 AM
Great pics guys!
Thank you for sharing.

JoeS475
05-26-2007, 02:29 PM
Thanks bigdog, mine is only on its second leaf since dormancy, and it is bigger than the first, so I'll keep an eye on the future leaf sizes.

~Joe

MediaHound
05-26-2007, 08:20 PM
This is unbelievable...my musella is getting another set of twins from the pseudostem!!! This plant will have 5 flowers on one pseudostem: one on the top and four on the stem. I couldn't believe it when I discovered today what was happening. I'll be sure to post this plant when the other two flowers open up.

:goteam:

Go play the lottery!
:2237:

austinl01
06-09-2007, 01:10 PM
Five blooms now! I can't find anyone on the internet that has ever had 5 blooms!!!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3300&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3300)

4 blooms from the pseudostem...
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3298&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3298)

MediaHound
06-10-2007, 12:24 PM
Five blooms now! I can't find anyone on the internet that has ever had 5 blooms!!!

http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3300&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3300)

4 blooms from the pseudostem...
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=3298&size=1 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=3298)

That's pretty amazing!
Time to get Guinness involved!
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/default.aspx

xyzzy
06-26-2007, 05:33 AM
Mine is flowering at the moment in the UK, but just the one flower unfortunately. I will put up a photo later, in the mean time here is it's bud a few weeks ago.
http://www.celtlore.co.uk/garden/backgarden/golden%20lotus.jpg

xyzzy
06-26-2007, 04:05 PM
My pictures of my Musella are posted on another thread - see:-

http://www.bananas.org/showthread.php?p=14437#post14437