boinsie

I live just southeast of Seattle, WA. The previous owner of my house planted these banana plants, but didn't know what type they were (all she told me was that "they're not the kind that actually make bananas"). She said that they came "from [her] sister in California."
Fast-forward three years, and one of them has a bloom! I had never expected this day to come, so I never did any research on them. But now I want to know, if there's still time for them to ripen this season, what's the likelihood that the bananas will be edible? Any thoughts on what type they might be?
The one in bloom bloomed at about 6 ft high, thought some of the other non-bloomers are taller than that. Diameter at base is 5 inches.
The plants are primarily green, but there's a little red on the underside of the stems.
I've been confused trying to look up info online, because my raceme leaves look pretty green as compared to the majority of what I see online, but it's looking like they're getting more red/purple as time goes.

Any guidance is very much appreciated! Thank you so much!

boinsie

UPDATE: I went through some of the "Identifying Bananas" stickied post, and though the blooming isn't far enough along to answer all of the identification questions, I can add as many as are clear so far:

Pseudostem colour - Blotches slight or absent
Petiole canal - Open w/margins spreading
Peduncle - no hair
Pedicels - UNKNOWN
Ovules loculus - UNKNOWN
Bract shoulder - intermediate?
Bract curling - revolute
Bract shape - Moreso acute
Bract apex - Moreso acute
Bract colour - Green-yellow w/slight red/purple undertones
Colour fading - Fades to a little yellow-greener towards the base
Bract scars - UNKNOWN
Free tepal of male flower - UNKNOWN
Male flower colour - UNKNOWN
Stigma colour - UNKNOWN

Right now I'm thinking it might be a basjoo?

Thanks again for any help you can offer. I'll check back with more info as the blooming proceeds!

smeash

Very exciting! Whatever they are, they are likely not edible.. all the same, what a cool thing to happen in Seattle! Basjoo are pretty cold hardy.. so thats a good guess. The flower looks the part as well!

Musa Basjoo - Bananas Wiki

boinsie

^ Thanks! I'm operating off of the theory that they'll be basjoo, but I'm gonna try to eat whatever come out of it anyway!

Couple of updates!


Pseudostem colour - Blotches slight or absent
Petiole canal - Open w/margins spreading
Peduncle - no hair
Pedicels - no visible sign of fusion
Ovules loculus - UNKNOWN
Bract shoulder - intermediate?
Bract curling - revolute
Bract shape - Moreso acute
Bract apex - Moreso acute
Bract colour - Green-yellow w/slight red/purple undertones
Colour fading - Fades to a little yellow-greener towards the base
Bract scars - Scarcely prominent
Free tepal of male flower - UNKNOWN
Male flower colour - UNKNOWN
Stigma colour - UNKNOWN

edwmax

Looks like a Basjoo. ... yellow-green bloom .... Look at the pic of Basjoo in the forum WIKI. .... Now, ALL bananas are eatable! ... But ornamental type bananas are considered in-eatable or undesirable because of the large number of seeds in the fruit and/or pithy texture of the fruit.

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Backyard Banana Joe

Wow! Very scientific! Good job!

Gabe15

100% Musa basjoo, but you won't even get poor quality edible fruit I'm sorry to say. They can only form seeded fruit if pollinated, but one plant flowering by itself is highly unlikely to get pollinated. The fruits will likely remain unfilled and basically just be finger sized empty skins.

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

boinsie

Coolio, thanks for the heads up, Gabe! I'll let you know if a miracle happens, though.