Tropicallvr

Musa Cheesemani

Unknown Cavendish type


Musa Ornata 'Royal Purple' seedling


Unknown seeded Musa in Golden Gate Park labeled "Musa paradisica"

Musa 'Chini Champa'
I've noticed that the shady side of a clump of back stemmed bananas always has alot more black color, while the sunny side is mostly green. Larger Musa cheesmanii/nagesium seedlings grown in mostly shade will have the dark black trunk, while the same ones grown in full sun will be green/red trunked. The same thing happens with black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra), where the sunny side of a culm will be yellow greenish, and the shady side will be black. I removed some rope at a friends black bamboo grove from his bamboo culms that was keeping the winter snow load from snapping the culms. The culms were nearly pure green, but as I removed the rope, underneath the rope it was pure black, giving the culms stripes of black on a pure green culm.
If I had a black banana like Ele Ele or black balbisiana to plant, I'd plant it so the shady side of the clump is facing me to get the best effect.

microfarmer

Great tip! I noticed the Cheesemanii I got from you was a burgundy red in full sun. I planned to replant it in spring so I will orient it on the shady side of the others. I'm hoping to get some Black Balbisiana from Jarred come springtime. I'll have to orient them similarly. Right now, all my inground plants are frostburned and drooping.

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MediaHound

Black Balbisiana gets the black from the reaction to the sun from what I understand!

Bch Grl

I have an unknown banana with lots of black on the trunk and it seems to have more black on the sunny side and sun exposed areas. At this time of year, the P-stem is almost completely black
Margie

Tropicallvr

Nice I stand corrected. Maybe it depends on the species, like M.cheesmanii, and that one at Golden gate Park(should have taken pic of other green sun exposed side).
I'm still hard to convice, because people said the same thing that sun improved black bamboos coloring, but when something was wrapped around a culm it created a dark ring where light didn't touch it. Maybe someone could do a test and wrap someting fairly wide around an new growing pup's p-stem, then take it off after it is large and see if it created a dark ring.

microfarmer

Hey, I can get that pic for you, though the plants might not look so good right now. We just had a storm blow thru and another on the way. Lot's of wind! What part of the park are they in? I'm always looking for a reason to take a motorcycle trip! I'll post as soon as I get back... promise...

I can do it when Cheesmanii pups for me, still none yet. Prolly in the spring.

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Tropicallvr

Alright, and the clump may even have some ripe bananas with seeds! It's in the park who's entrance is across from the Japanese tea gardens. There are tons of palms and tree ferns, and you'll find the clump if you basically take a right hand turn and stay towards the right on that path. You'll pass some silver Ceroxylon species erupting from the ground, and some Jubea chilinensis on your right then there's a huge tree that has a Chamodorea costricticana under it, and on the other side of the tree is the banana clump with the black side of the clump facing the path.
Here's a picture of bigdog's Musa cheesmanii, and what it looks like when grown in full sun(mine was grown in almost total shade).

Hope you don't mind me reposting it.

Now mine in deep shade (moved it for this pic into more sun!)

Tropicallvr

Hey if anybody has anymore black bananas, please post some pics!
Bchgirl- Wouldn't mind seeing some more of that one!

Gabe15

You can just peel back a leaf sheath (below the petiole) and see what color the pseudostem is without direct sun exposure.

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Bch Grl

Sure...when I get back to FL( I'm in L.A. for Xmas ) I'll take lots of pics. It is just now opening a flower and maybe someone can ID it for me, too.


Margie

microfarmer

I don't want to go to jail, though, If I can get away with some seeds, I'll attempt it.

Can you pin it down a little closer for me?

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...&t=h&z=15&om=1

http://www.holymtn.com/garden/JapaneseTeaGardenMap.htm

I'll print some images to take with me for ID. My friend wants to go with me and we have a ride date of next Saturday morning. He also wants to go to the Presidio and the old gun emplacements under the Golden Gate Bridge that protected the San Francisco Bay from invading foriegn navies. I've been told there's a good Morrocan restaurant in the Haight as well...(Haight/Ashbury)

Thanks,

Jeff

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mskitty38583

you need to be careful....i dont have bail money...lol. i know out in cali, if your in a nationa park(like in the coyomacka mountians) and you pick up seeds and pods and the park rangers see you do this..its a 500.00 fine for each seed. we went there on a family outting and i wanted some seeds off this really odd looking cedar. i didnt pick them off the trees i got them off the ground..well needless to say the rangers saw me do it and took me straight to my parents. i had over 15 seeds in my pockets and i left the park w/ no seeds. my parents said the seeds were not worth 500.00 each. i thought they were, but when you 14 yrs. old anything you want is worth it.. so just be careful. did you know that rose rustling is actually a crime even if its on public land???

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Tropicallvr

There a quite a few palm people that I know of that collect seeds in that park. I bet it wouldn't be a big deal to take seeds from a stem that had bloomed/rotted and fell to the ground, but they might dispose of that sort of stuff pretty quick.
Anyways the entrance to the Strybing Arboretum is just to the left of "C" on your tea gardens Map if you go south from Martin Luthar King drive into the park. Look at the two parrell white lines on the road(just left of the "C") that run north/south. They point straight into the Strybing Arboretum's entrance. If you walk straight/look south into the park you'll be facing a lake/pond. That will tell you that your in the right place, not to mention all the palm trees.
You'll find the banana if you stick to the right paths just after you enter the park. There's a building on your right, but just keep walking past while chooseing the right most path as the paths divide. If you get lost you won't be upset because it's really nicely landscaped, super tropical!

I can't figure out how to pinpoint the exact location using google maps, but if you look just left of that grey roofed building(on the map) it is just in those trees.

microfarmer

I never heard of rose rustling...


Cool! Kinda like a treasure hunt. I feel like it's banana recon.

I should be able to find it with those directions. With all the palms, a banana should stand out a bit. we'll see what happens. I'm going to copy all the directions and take many pictures. I'm not opposed to taking 'about to rot', or rotting fruit off the tree. I might even bring a rope and weight to fling into the bunch to bring it a little closer to pick a nanner or 2 or 5...


Now if only I could work out the bugs on my computer so I can download my pics.

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Tropicallvr

LOL, banana recon. The stems are pretty tall, so a rope might be the ticket, be careful not to get busted.
The reason I think it's seeded is cause when I went, it looked like someone had pulled down one of the (undeveloped bananas) blooming stems trying to eat them or something, and it seemed to have undeveloped seeds, but the one that is in the pic looks really plump, so maybe seeds were developing in there?

mskitty38583

rose rustlin' is the same thing as cattle rustlin', but with roses not cows. . and in the state of texas cattle rustlin' is still on the books as a hanging offense , i dont know if rose rustlin' is a hanging offense, but texas is not the place you wanna get caught doing ANY kind of rustlin'. not that i would know..... i dont know if banana rustlin' is ileagle or not. we dont want to see you on the news saying," i shot the sheriff, but i did not shoot the deputy,but i swear it was in self-defense."

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Last edited by mskitty38583 : 12-23-2007 at 01:45 AM. Reason: add

klemmthamm

Now, IANAL, but most of the time taking something that does not belong to you is illegal... in most places it is called larceny (or burglary depending on the circumstances) and depending on the value of the items taken (and once again the circumstances surrounding the crime) could tag you with a felony.

Just my $.02,

-James-

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