giant Zebrina?
 

I was at Quail Gardens in Encinitas, California in October and took a bunch of pictures of their fairly extensive banana collection. This banana surprised me. They have it labelled as Zebrina, and if you look at the leaves they seem to have the characteristic maroon splotches and look like a normal Zebrina, except they are absolutely huge. My wife (in the photo) is 5' 3", for scale. I thought Zebrina was supposed to top out at 10' max. What are these beautiful monsters?

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Re: giant Zebrina?
 

I would have guessed that to be 'bordelon'. I'll be eager to hear what others here have to say.

Russell

Re: giant Zebrina?
 

Ive seen plenty of Zebrina mats that size. Years ago when I visiting Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida, there was a mat of similar looking bananas planted behind a pond. It really looked just like Zebrina-tall and thin with the maroon undersides and 'blood spots' on the tops. I noticed one unusual thing-the flowers were a very intense orchid/purple and I think bloomed sideways and not so much pendulous. A very unusual intense color that I hadnt seen before or since. I didnt think it was Zebrina and never found out what it was. I believe I had asked while I was there and no one knew. Fortunately I was on a trading/collecting trip from the Caribbean and was able to trade some native orchids for some suckers. After a year or so I had a large mat blooming. I never did find out exactly what variety it was. I have seen probably about 6 similar colored varieties to Zebrina, 2 or 3 short fat leaved (Dwarf Cavendish types), and 2 or 3 tall, thin, and long leaved types. So I know there are more than just Zebrina, True Sumatrana, Rosacea, Zebrina X Rojo, and the Puerto Rican Rojo. Maybe some are man made hybrids, or others natural hybrids? I know Bill Lessard crossed Sumatrana with Gran Naine years ago and produced a plant with the short fat wide leaves and the color characteristics of Sumatrana-it also produces edible seedless fruit and flowers at no taller than 5'.

Re: giant Zebrina?
 

The main confusion here is that the taxonomy among these wild bananas is not clear, and there are many different types throughout botanic gardens and in the nursery trade which are all called some variation of "zebrina", "sumatrana" etc... Those two names are valid, but most of the plants they are attached to are not supposed to have that name. It is a case of the hobby trade/botanic gardens having plants with no percise, solid botanical names and so they are defaulted to the most commonly known name for a banana plant with red leaves like that. In reality though, that leaf coloration alone is not unique to one variety and botanically there are a few distinct, described forms of M. acuminata with those types of leaves and some undescribed forms with those leaves too.

That being said, the height you are seeing is normal for some of these common types.

Re: giant Zebrina?
 

varig8 - That Sumatrana/Gran Nain cross that you are talking about seems like the ideal plant for us in northern climes, where we have to worry about getting them inside in the winter. Stocky manageable size, colorful foliage and edible fruit all on one plant - Wow!

Re: giant Zebrina?
 

After Mr. Lessard died his farm was bought by another guy. If you are interested in obtaining this specific hybrid, you could contact him by email via the 'Going Bananas' website . The farm is located in Homestead FL. He might still have this hybrid in the field.