Tog Tan

Hi Mark,
Man, first, it's Frank getting the variegated seedling from Thailand and now it's you. You guys sure know how to make me jealous!
His seed source was from Thailand too. I think it is probably the M/a subsp siamea cos the M/a subsp malaccensis don't get as far as Bkk. It is found throughout M'sia to Southern Thailand.
I went to South Thailand last month to look for the M/a subsp siamea but found only the M/a subsp malaccensis. The only difference between the Thai and the M'sian form is the color of the flower when I checked with Frank. The M'sian form is crimson in color whereas the Thai is bright red.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Mark Hall

Tog, I have had the plant for just under a year now. I did wonder if it was Siamea. When it came it had a couple of eyes just showing on the corm. Never had many roots either and I was worried that along with a few other Thai bananas that i had bought it would end up in the great banana plantation in the sky.

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Time Flies like an Arrow.....Fruit flies like a Banana.

Tog Tan

Mark,
I think the only way to figure it out is to wait for it to flower. The M/a subsp siamea has a purplish flower with a yellowish tip. The M'sian form is crimson in color without the yellow tip. Frank has some nice pix of it in his earlier post. If we try to be smart and look at the physical aspect of the plant we are only kidding ourselves cos this guy is so darn variable. Up till today I am still amazed by the different forms of the M/a subsp malaccensis in the jungle and countryside. By the way, this species is so common here that it is even found right in the centre of the city growing without a care to the traffic around them! This is because the Malays here are very fond of 'naners and that the govt officials tolerate it as long as it is not untidy.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Mark Hall

Tog, We will be in for a long wait for mine to flower with the temps we get here.

I started to look through Franks Galley again but it just Depresses me He has so many plants that I want.

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Time Flies like an Arrow.....Fruit flies like a Banana.

Chironex

Yo Tog, Talk about making someone jealous...I just saw your 96 corms and 50 more coming....Sheesh!!!!
I have banana envy real bad.

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Scot

bigdog

That's funny, Mark...I think the same thing when I look through your gallery, LOL!

Raules

Hi Tog! You can show photos wild M/a subsp malaccensis, it would be desirable to look. Tell this beautiful small plant which gives many fruit. It is good that bananas grow at you in a city, it is very beautiful.

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Tropical agriculturist

Tog Tan

Hi Andrei,
I am still waiting for some of the M/a subsp malaccensis photos to be done. After that I will post a new thread on this with as many photos as I can. Yes, it has many slim fruits which is nothing but seeds. I counted about 110 sds in each fruit.
By the way one of the M/a subsp truncata seedlings I have taken back has red mottling on all its new leaves. It is very beautiful now and I hope the color will stay!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Raules

Perfectly Tog! I will watch attentively all threads. Very interesting theme, I like wild versions.

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Tropical agriculturist

Tog Tan

Since I got this seedling late Oct, it has been putting out leaves with heavy red mottling. I wonder if it is the change from the cooler highland temp to warmer lowland temp that's making this happen. The other 2 seedlings remained the same. Whatever, I just hope the color stays!

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Chironex

Nice looking banana, of course, now I have to get one.

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Scot

MediaHound

Hope it stays like that but...

Whats the underside look like?

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MediaHound

Nevermind, found it in your gallery! This is it, yes?


Link to the album:
Banana Gallery - Tog Tan Album

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Apologies in advance if I am slow to reply to your PM. I suggest posting in the forums for support if you need something urgent.

Tog Tan

Yep Jarred, that's the underside of the leaf. How come you ask this question?
The interesting thing is that the underside of the M/a ssp truncata is totally different from the M/a ssp malaccensis.

Underside Leaf differences
M/a ssp truncata - Semi-gloss with red mid rib
M/a ssp malaccensis - Glaucous waxy with yellowish mid rib

I think the M/a ssp truncata is hardly found in cultivation because it is endemic to the Central highlands of Peninsular M'sia. Also, as far as I have checked it hasn't been used in the cultivar program. Another thing is, it is genetically different from the M/a ssp malaccensis. The M/a ssp microcarpa and even the M/a ssp sumatrana/zebrina were used in cultivar development but not this one. It seems like a poorly neglected living thing!
Cheers

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Tog Tan

Since my initial posting of this thread, I was real curious in photographing the M/a ssp truncata with fruits and bud. I finally did it today by taking a 3 hr drive to the Northern part of the central highlands. Here the plants are much darker in pigmentation. I found 3 plts with fruits and only shown one as they are all the same. Apparently according to the locals, this plant only fruit when it is big - 10+ft - p/stem height.

I am so suprised that the color of the bud is so dark. Its lowland ssp malaccensis is a beautiful carmine red.


This pix is typical of the plants found here. Practically solid black semi gloss p/stem and petioles.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

bigdog

Wow! What a beautiful plant, Tog! That ones' a keeper.

Raules

Greetings Tog! Thanks for beautiful photos! Very interesting and beautiful version, completely black Psudostem and set of fruit. It seems to me the highest version from Musa acuminata. Tog and Musa acuminata ssp. microcarpa and Musa acuminata ssp. malaccensis have flowering this hour?

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Tropical agriculturist

Tog Tan

Hi Andrei,
As far as I know M/a ssp malaccensis flower all year round. I don't know about the M/a ssp microcarpa as it is not from my area. I suppose it only flowers when it gets real big like the M/a ssp truncata. I figure due to the cold, the highland subsp take a longer time grow. This was confirmed by the people at the Central highlands that M/a ssp truncata grows very big and takes a long time to flower.
Here, at the lowlands, M/a ssp malaccensis can even flower at about 7ft p/stem height and a diameter of even 4-5 inches.
Cheers.

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Tog Tan has sadly suddenly passed away 6/16/09. We will miss you Tog Tan.

Raules

Greetings Tog! I simply thought that these kinds grow in your district. On the Internet there is not enough photo of the given kinds, and as the information on them. About M/a ssp truncata I have learnt and have seen from your theme. It seems to me at you there is a possibility to receive a new kind of a banana, crossing for example M/a ssp truncata and Musa balbisiana or to any other kind. How you think of it? It seems to me it is the big work. Tog, and you have photo of a beautiful site of a rainforest or a landscape in which wild bananas and palm trees, trees are visible. It would be desirable to put such on a desktop, for the computer. All the best! Andrey.

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Tropical agriculturist

lorax

Tog, I can't speak to the M. acuminata situation, but here's what I've noticed with Ensete ventricosum.

I'll remind you that I live at about 10,000 feet asl. Here, E. ventricosum gets slightly stunted by the altitude and has an almost black psuedotrunk on the outer layer. I took pups off of an impressive mother plant and traded them for a new cultivar of red plantains, with a friend who lives on the beach, let's say 0 feet asl. The pups appeared to have the melanism when I separated them. They've grown up now, and they're almost solid green on the trunks; additionally they're not stunted the way that the mother was.

So I'd conclude that for Ensete at least, the melanism is a reaction to conditions.