aroidgrower

This is a new Banana for me. It was sold to me from a friend out of Thailand and is known for its black trunks. Their seems to be no name of it and I am not sure were it orignated from. I have grown Ele Ele and it looks much different than the forms I currently have. I am not sure if the photo will give it credit when I first fot the plant I thought it was not black at all but as it matured it turned a very dark black to purple color. The leaves are very thick and slightly curl under on the edges. Anyone seen this before?

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MediaHound

Nice!

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momoese

My Ele Ele looks nothing like that! Very cool.

STEELVIPER

Do not know what kind of banana that is ,but i have seen something close/similar to that kind of banana with a black/dark purple pseudostem. I used to be stationed on kadena Air base on Okinawa. I remember seeing many bananas growing in the jungle's around the buliding where i used to work at.(U.S.Air Force) I remember asking about a tree/plant that i though was black bamboo.But i remember my boss at the time telling me it was a banana tree. but i do remember a black/purple pseudostem.And it did have big green banana leaves. Back then (1995) i was not into plants or banans of any kind. Just woman and drink. LOL

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AnnaJW

Wow - that is awesome!

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Gabe15

When it fruit we will know what it really is, or at leats have a better idea, but in the meantime, a more widely known banana with that balck pseudostem is Musa 'Chini Champa', which translates to something like "sweet smell of magnolias", in essence it has very aromatic flowers, and small, sweet fruit. It's in the USA but very rare and not sold anywhere Im aware of. But that really means nothing because there are many cultivars and species with black pseudostems so a flower will really ID it.

http://www.ganeshvilla.com/bananas/musa_chinichampa.htm

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ryan

hey folks, you might want to follow up here on this previous thread i started. my black trunk banana looks exactly like that. i dont quite know whether mine is of thai origin cos the nursery that i wrangled it out from seems to think that it is hawaiian, although they deal mostly with thai imports.... nurseries give little, if not poor info that is unreliable 90% of the time over here...

Hawaiian Banana?

here's a pic of my small sucker...

ryan

let me try and give a little bit more info...

i've this thai book that has included it... i've taken pics of the book and there might be some copyright issues but its in the name of educational purposes. dont worry, u guys can delete the post if u think it infringes anything

i dont know the title of the book (its in thai...) but its by amarin printing and publishing co. ltd. published 2005. isbn: 974-289-134-6

those interested can visit www.amarin.com

cover:


page on this balck stem thingy:

the english words:
Musa (AAA Group) 'Kluai Nak'
Red Banana

a picture in the book of it:

aroidgrower

Very intersesting I have grown both Ele Ele and Chini Champa neither have this exact look but it could be a different form of them. Your photos of your black stem musa look to be the same species I have. This plant seems to produce dark trunks no matter what in most cases if the old is removed it is green but will age to black if the sun hits it. I have noticed with my collection of Colocasias that with some species if the soils PH is different the stems colorations will also. I have had some with solid white stems in one soil and neon pink if acid is added to the soil. I am wondering with some varieties like Ele Ele and Chini Champa if that is the case? As far as the hawaiian dark banana Ele Ele is the only form I know of out of Hawaii. I think this musa might be a different creature compared to that.

mrbungalow

Maybe it's "Champa Kala", another form of "Chini champa". "Chini Champa" grows at altitude and is said to be more stout. Champa Kala is typically grown in the lowlands and is said to grow very tall. Both have the famous sweet fruit and black stems.



With that beeing said, the second photo in the first post looks almost exactly like my musa "helens". Especially in leaf shape. I am guessing Chini Champa has something to do with it.

Erlend

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MediaHound

Photos now in thread...

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mrbungalow

I don't think it's ELE ELE, is it? I think they have shiny black stems, not powdery?

Erlend

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