Jack Daw

Hi friends,
I was give one pup (sometime ago) that is somewhat different than anything I have at my disposal now. It is a a pup from a plant, that my friend acquired during his travels (Middle East). This particular naner grows wildly in the semideserts and also irrigated areas of various Turkish regions, so I estimate that its cold-hardiness (natural) is zone 8b or 9a. Its name here (and there) is Musa paradisiaca and I don't want to mislead you, but I think it could be the famous Musa 'French Plantain' cultivar (but I need a positive ID though).

The plant is quite tall (not like IC, but taller than dwarves), it has green-brown P-stem with only a few black p-stem splotches/spots (like Cavedish varieties).
Its leaves are solid green, but the petiole and (usually) the back side (sometimes also the upper side) of the petiole is pinkish (not red, purple or brown).
Young plants don't have the typical spots in the leaves (like SDC, DC and so many other cultivars), to be honest, its leaves don't really change color during the entire maturation process at all.
They are always just solid light green.
Its fruit is completely seedless, but there are small undeveloped seeds inside each fruit (in my gallery, see the lengthwise cross-section of a banana labelled as Musa (x) paradisiaca).

It grows (and thrives) in semi arid terrains, well draining sandy soils and hot/warm summer climates. There's no browning, wilting or anything saying that it would like more humid conditions.

To help you better id this peculiar naner, I should maybe post a pic of the flower:


Thanks for your help.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



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Gabe15

The name Musa paradisiaca was based off a French Plantain cultivar (it is actually a group, not just one cultivar), but since then the name has come to mean any banana plant, it is a non-specific name. The plant in the photo is definitely not any sort of plantain. It looks somewhat like a Prata/Pome subgroup member, some common ones are 'Brazilian' and 'Raja Puri' (it doesn't look like either of those cultivars though), but without a good photo of more mature fruit it is hard to tell. Do you have any other photos?

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

Jack Daw

No, we will have to wait 1 or 2 years for my fruit. I will revitalize the thread then, with new pics.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



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Gabe15

For reference here is a photo of a French Plantain cultivar, I do knot know the exact name of the cultivar however.

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

Jack Daw

Gabe, could you please tell me how did you recognize that it wasn't a plantain? I was trying to look up some appearance differences of variouos bananas, but didn't acutally find any. Is it something specific, that you can see when you look at the plant? Or just a leaf structure or something like that?
I'm really curious. Thanks.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



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sunfish

Could this be it. Anamur bananas were the only type in Turkey until the mid 1980's.

Jack Daw

I found on the net, that Anamur was a Cavendish variety, but unlike any Cavendish variety, this cultivar doesn't really have any spots or special coloration, that can be found on DC, SDC, Grand Nain...

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



Zeitgeist - Corporatocracy 101 (~2hrs)

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sunfish

I read also it is a semi dwarf plant. There are pictures in google images

Gabe15

The official definition of a plantain is as follows:
"A particular type of cooking banana belonging to the AAB genome group
characterised by the yellow-orange colour of the compound tepal. The fruits are generally only palatable after cooking. The male axis is sometimes absent or degenerated. If present, it is clothed with persistent male bracts and flower relicts." From the Taxonomic Advisory Group of Bioversity International.

That being said, they are most easily spotted because they usually have few, but large fruits which are very angular and pointed at the ends. The male bud is usually either not present or degenerated. The plant in your photo clearly has lots of small fruits packed closely together and a well formed male bud.

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

Jack Daw

I see I will have to study the bioversity international site more thoroughly next time. Thanks Gabe.

__________________
Thnx to Marcel, Ante, Dr. Chiranjit Parmar and Francesco for the plants I've received.



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