An unknown banana
 

Can anybody please identify the banana of the following fruits?

This banana is extremely cold hady enough to overwinter -3deg.C without
protection.
The height of the pseudostem when in flowering is about 2.5m/8ft.
The size of the finger of the fruits is abut 9cm.

Re: An unknown banana
 

I guess Goldfinger

Re: An unknown banana
 

I didn't know they were that hardy.. Nice Pic's :^)

Re: An unknown banana
 

Do you have any photos of the male plant and of the plant? Especially photos of the petioles and pseudostem would be helpful. Also, if you have any photos of the bunch on the plant.

Re: An unknown banana
 

Hello Gabe,

Sorry all that I have are the following pictures and I do hope they will help
you to identify the banana.

Re: An unknown banana
 

This is a Goldfinger for comparison.

Re: An unknown banana
 

Hmmm...looks pretty similar to me!

Re: An unknown banana
 

The plant is not 'Goldfinger', the plant in question has very different pseudostem coloration and petiole shape.

It's hard to say for sure without some different photos at different stages of flowering, and also it looks to be on the malnourished/stunted side, but it could be a type of 'Namwah'. It looks a bit odd though and without those other photos I don't want to say it is 'Namwah' for sure. Where did you get it from?

Re: An unknown banana
 

Thanks Gabe,

I do know it is difficult to tell the name of this banana without further photos
you need which in fact are not available at the present time.
So I will again ask you when such photos are prepared some time later.
I got it from Kyushu island of southern Japan where this banana has been
grown almost wildly without any cold protection and cares, but then it has
fruited every year for almost centurys. The banana is locally called "moncky
banana" because the finger of the fruit is padgy and the size is only about
8~9cm long.

Re: An unknown banana
 

To bad the links not working, Tony.

Re: An unknown banana
 

Re: An unknown banana
 

Hello Tony,

Thanks for the information of the Okinawan banana.
But the banana in question is not from Okinawa, but from the Kyushu
island, and is not called "Shima(island)banana", but "Moncky banana".

Re: An unknown banana
 

Hello Gabe,

I found another photo of the banana in question.
Does this help you?

Re: An unknown banana
 

Man, those are some short fat nanners (looks like they are almost bursting @ the seems) :^)

Re: An unknown banana
 

Yes, that photo helps a lot. It still hard to say, but to me from that last photo it looks like a type of Bluggoe (the most common form in the US being 'Orinoco'). But it could be something else too. There are just so many different bananas out there, that without knowing exactly what is common in the region where it's from, its hard to say what exactly it is. One thing is for sure though, whatever it is, it is not a common variety in the US or any other large hobby market.

Re: An unknown banana
 

Hello Gabe,

I collected some other photos of the banana in question, and I do hope
they will help you some how for your banana identifiation.
Here they are:

Re: An unknown banana
 

The first new photo looks like yours and I still think the same thing about it, the others look a little different and I'm not so sure. Those other ones could be the same just in a different condition or they could be a different variety.

Re: An unknown banana
 

Million thanks Gabe!