Eric

Does anyone know or grow the Indian cultivar Musa Virupakshi? Checked the wiki & it's not listed. Would very much appreciate any info I can get.

Gabe15

Heres all the info I can quickly find on it

"Two Hill bananas cultivars ‘Virupakshi’ and ‘Sirumalai’ known for their special flavour and long shelf life, are unique to the state of Tamil Nadu, India.Hill bananas are perennial in nature and are the ruling crop of the Lower Pulneys hill range, Sirumalai and Kolli hills of Tamil Nadu from 1940 through 1975 while coffee and pepper also formed part of a multitier system. Hill bananas prefer an altitude of 2000 to 5000 masl and a well distributed annual rainfall of 1250-1500 mm. Like other bananas, hill bananas are also susceptible to banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)." From: Genetic engineering of Hill banana ecotypes against BBTV; S.K. Elayabalan, K.K. Kalaiponmani, K. Kumar, D.S. Angappan and P. Balasubramanian; Department of Plant Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), Coimbatore, India

It is in the Pome subgroup, an AAB genome. This subgroup is most well known in the US for the cultivar 'Brazilian', so it is likely similar flavor-wise with what we know in the US mainland as 'Brazilian' and 'Dwarf Brazilian', and in Hawai'i as 'Apple'.

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Eric

Thanx Gabe !!
Then I guess what I really need to be checking out is the Brazilian, Dwarf Brazilian, & Hawai'ian Apple... Is that the Green Hawai'ian Apple Banana plant?
Anyway, what I heard was that the Virupakshi was a fair tasting seeded banana with just a few seeds (which is basically what I've been looking for). Considering it's origin, I was thinking it might be worth trying in Oklahoma.
Mahalo!

Gabe15

If its a Pome, I don't see why it would have seeds. Where did you see references that it has seeds? 'Apple' in Hawaii is synonymous with both 'Brazilian' and 'Dwarf Brazilian', neither of which have seeds.

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Eric

Sorry, my mistake . Just went back over my notes (real messy). Got the Virupakshi mixed up with the Pahari Kela.
BTW, Luv the diagrams & schematics in your album! Thanx for the info .
You seem to know a great deal about bananas... Do you know of a fair tasting seeded banana?

Found it again (it's been a while). I was reading in "Cold hardy bananas - Musa Pahari Kela (hill banana)" thread, especially the link in post-21 then in post-28.

Richard

With all the great tasting seedless bananas, why are you interested in a tooth-breaking seeded type?

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Eric

Just Luv experimenting with bananas . I've managed to keep four (now) 12-16 foot Blue Javas going for 3 years now. Was considering setting up a small lab for tissue culture but wanted to try a seed banana out, first, just to find out what that's like. Figure if I get one, though, I'd at least like to work with one that's edible (no waste).

Gabe15

There are a couple of common seeded bananas that aren't bad tasting, but don't really lend themselves to a food source compared to edible bananas. There is a very big and significant difference between edible and seeded bananas. Seeded bananas are not like what you would imagine if an edible bananas had seeds throughout. Seeded bananas are much smaller overall, and generally have only a very small amount of edible pulp.

If you really want to experience a seeded banana, I would recommend Musa velutina/dasycarpa, its very common, will be relatively quick to flower, will definitely set seed and is fairly sweet.

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Jack Daw

But I thought Virupakshi was USDA zone 10b+ plant. Right? Other than that, it can't be grown in greenhouse, 'cause it's like Saba, robust and huge whn mature.
Also AAB is referenced to as Plantain, so you might also see this plant regarded as plantain.

Also, I found this in my books:
Also Pahari Kela doesn't have seeds, I mailed to India and such practices as removing the flower bud to have seedless fruit were not practiced there, since the majority of PK population lives freely in the hills.

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Eric

Thanx guys! Jeeps, I really had my facts all mixed up. Even thought Virupakshi was zone 7. Definitely appreciate your info & setting me straight .
Will check into Musa Velutina/Dasycarpa & see how I can work with that one.
Thanx again!

It's now same day at 6:25 am. Checked the wiki. Great pics & info on Musa Velutina! Just what I've been searching (almost a month) for!
Still very interested in learning more about the India bananas, although, I doubt I'd have much luck growing them here.

Richard

Musa Virupakshi is revered in parts of the Hindu faith. About a decade ago a crisis developed in India because many plantations because infected with fungal diseases. This motivated a change in agricultural practices and development of tissue culture labs to produce "clean" plant starts. You can read more about it by searching the english-language newspaper reports from India and especially published papers from Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

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Richard

In the U.S., the general population regards "plantain" as a synonym for cooking banana, but in many parts of the world "plantain" is a synonym for bananas in general. You are correct that some AAB bananas are too starchy for anything but cooking (e.g., Tanduk), but some are used almost exclusively for fresh eating (e.g., Manzano) and others are fine either way (e.g., Raja Puri).

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Gabe15

Plantain is a specific subgroup with an AAB genome, but there are other AAB subgroups that are not Plantains.

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lorax

And if you're interested in the origin of the name "Virupakshi" it comes from Buddhist mythology - Virupaksha is the Lord of Nagas, and Virupakshi is his consort; he is one of the four guardians of the world. If you're curious, he's normally represented as a wrathful red-skinned man.

Eric

The Banana plant & fruit are also highly revered in the Buddhist faith. It is a strong symbol of Unity in Sri Lanka & India. And while common to take meals on the leaves in Northern Sri Lanka & Southern India, it is considered somewhat taboo to tear a leaf & only politicians are allowed to prepare a "Malluma" with the leaves. The banana is also, & especially, a special & preferential sacrifice to the Gods. -- Just thought I'd add what I know in that respect.
Thanx for the the other info...! wasn't much aware of it's importance to the Hindu faith but was certain there was such .

Hermitian Operator - Quantum mechanics - Just curious .

Richard

The Hermitian operator is commutative and I like to travel! Well, o.k. it is also useful in statistical optimization. I can tell you a few semesters worth of information on Quantum mechanics but I concede to Lorax who can keep you entertained for years on the subject.

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Eric

Wow! Two more posts before I could finish mine!
Okay. The four Guardians are:
Vaisravana (yellow-skinned), Virudhaka (blue-skinned), Dhrtarastra (white-skinned), & Virupaksa (red-skinned). They stand at the 4 compass directions of the world.
Can't believe I didn't make that connection!?
Virupaksa is represented by a serpent & his name means "He who sees all". Seems fitting that a plant named after his consort would make an ideal sacrifice, all things considered.

Richard: Maybe later on the mathematical angle... still recovering from limits & derivatives !

BananaAddict

Latest news I've got on this virupaksha and sirumalai. India: Palani Hills may lose unique banana varieties to virus

CValentine

Interesting read....
Information gathering....... ~Cheryl

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Jack Daw

Oh, nice. I love math. Starting off as:
Limits, derivatives, integrals, multi-dimensional algebra (including derivatives and integrals), gradient, rotation, divergence... LOVE THAT!
Bundled together with electrotechnics and physics that is. Not as a single class.

As for the article... It's sad. It might even be, that all the tropical bananas will be wiped out and new colonies based on subtropical (survivng) and temperate bananas will be established.

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



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