gitano

Hello, banana lovers!

I recently volunteered to take over management of my employers lobby rainforest display. We have some banana species I was hoping you could identify for me, so that I can better provide for their needs.

The banana cluster is probably 10-12 feet high, but since I'm not a banana species connoisseur, I really wasn't sure which aspects might help identify them. I did notice that the area where the leaves meet the stem is flat like a palm tree, instead of tubular like the banana trees I've seen before. I took lots of pictures to help ID.







I also noticed a mysterious substance on the leaves.. There is a sticky, black underlayer speckled with fuzzy white particles. I have no idea whether this is normal for a banana tree, but I've sure never seen anything like it before so I suspect it may be some sort of banana tree affliction.







Anyone who could point me in the right direction to identify this species, or (even better!) point me in the direction for where I could find information on their care, or (best yet!) disclose what the mysterious affliction might be, I would be much in your debt!

Michael_Andrew

Looks similar to my Bird of Paradise but the leaves are more narrow and longer. Maybe a travelers palm?

Jananas Bananas

Hello Gitano! There are not any bananas in the pictures that I see. The thick one is a white Bird of Paradise - the second picture is showing the bloom. The smaller is I believe Spathiphyllum with the white substance being pollen from the Spath (or similar) flower.

~JaNan

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Jananas Bananas

lorax

I see a Bird of Paradise in bloom, with a serious wooly aphid infestation. Safer's Insecticidal Soap to the rescue!

Janana - I have yet to meet a Spathi that's tall enough to drop pollen on a Strelizia (and I live in Spathyland)....

Randy4ut

Anyone else here think it looks more like some type of heliconia, or am I the only one... Hope our expert heliconia folks will see this and pipe in on what exactly they are...

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Jananas Bananas

HA! HA! You are right about that Lorax!!!! The pollen from my Spath flowers look so similar to that and it gets all over the other leaves because the flower stalks are so tall. Not THAT tall though! So do you think the smaller ones are also Birds?

My first thought was Heliconia, but I edited it out Randy4UT.

~J

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Jananas Bananas

LilRaverBoi

I agree with Lorax...bird of paradise and the necessity for insecticidal soap!

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jack hagenaars

looks like mealy bug to me...I would wipe all the leaves with a soapy water and then spray with insecticidal soap....they are difficult to get rid of because they hide in the leaf sheaths and stems...but keep ontop of them and you will win the battle.....maybe a new years resolution....kill the bugs!

Bananaman88

I actually think that you have both Heliconia and Bird of Paradise in there. In the very top photo, the plant with the thin petioles looks like Heliconia, while the plant (in the background) with thicker stalks is the Bird of Paradise.

Taylor

Hi Gitano. Where are you located? Does the plant (heliconia/BOP) stay inside year round?

Gabe15

Its looks to me like Strelitzia nicolai (White Bird of Paradise) with etiolated suckers, Heliconia form better pseudostems and the petioles aren't so long.

And the white stuff I would agree is some Coccoidae mealybug type insect. The sticky stuff is called honey due, a substance they excrete when sucking sap from the plants. The black stuff could easily either be some saprophytic fungi that is now living on the honey due, or just debris and stuff that gets stuck in it.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

sunfish

The combination of honeydew and the black fungus is one way to detect a mealy bug infestation. ...

Steve L

I don't see any heliconia and the bloom looks more like the Strelitzia Reginae; Orange Bird of Paradise. It's covered in soft scale and probably has not formed all the way. I believe it's a combination planting of the orange and white bird of paradise.

Steve

bsorcs

Hmmm. Based on size and habit, the BoP is Strelitzia nicolai, not reginae. Nice specimen that has been well maintained. Could get larger.

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BS
Too many orinocos!

2woodensticks

bird of paradise..check under the leaf for white looking rings..spiral white fly..black mold from the honey dew they produce

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got to love em..{neotropical rattlesnake..cascabell}

sunfish

This thread is from 2009

quendor91

woot forum necro :P