Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Iholena subgroup

Iholena is the name of a subgroup of cooking bananas in the AAB genome group. The subgroup was domesticated in the Pacific region and is named after the Hawaiian name of its most representative cultivar. The name refers to the colour of the fruit pulp, iho meaning core or heart and lena meaning yellow or yellow-orange. The colour of Iholena fruits suggests that are high in pro-vitamin A carotenoids.

Iholena and Maoli-Popoulu bananas, which were also domesticated in the Pacific region, are loosely known as Pacific plantains because of their close relationship with African plantains.

They have become increasingly rare in the Pacific, but are still grown in Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia (where they are called Orea for 'yellow colour like turmeric'), Vanuatu, New Guinea, Tonga and perhaps other places. In Hawaii, they are mostly found growing wild in highland forests.


Morphological characteristics

The underside of the cigar leaf is mauve, silvery, coppery, reddish or bronze-coloured, not to be confused with Mysore bananas, which also have pink on the underside of their leaves. The colour normally fades within a week but may persist for months. Some cultivars have this colour on the undersides of most leaves. The petiole has erect or slightly incurved margins.

Leaf habit is drooping, compared to the Maoli-Popoulus, which have more erect leaves.

The rachis is typically bare. The bunch is small to medium-sized. The fruit turn yellow early, when the pulp is still firm. At that stage, the fruit may require another 2 to 3 weeks on the plant to reach maturity. This trait may have contributed to their neglect.

The male flowers are generally yellowish or whitish, with hardly any pink on the compound tepal. The stamens are long, curled and the colour of lavander. The free tepal is translucent with a small apicula.


The peduncle has a reddish colour. At emergence, the bud sheath is creamy, narrow and pointed.

The individual fruits jut out at right angles to the central axis and are rather loosely arranged.

The fruits are straight, angular or 'canoe-shaped', never crescentic. The pulp is salmon-coloured.

The male flowers contain inside the free tepal what Hawaiians call pilali, a honey-like nectar rich in nutrient.

Iholena subgroup | Promusa - Mobilizing banana science for sustainable livelihoods

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

This is suppose to be a Red Iholena banana plant. I purchased it last year and it's growing good. I guess time will tell. :nanadrink:

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Your plant looks beautiful, Good Luck with the ID.


The Tigua does not have a mauve, coppery, reddish or bronze-coloured cigar leaf.

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Where did you buy it from?

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

I got it from Greenearth May 24, 2014. It is almost 4' tall.:banana_ba

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Yes, looks good. Looks like the real deal.

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Lime green midrib, leaves hanging over,petioles shape and copper-bronze undersides, its definitely a Red iholena

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

It's difficult to conclusively identify a banana at that age and many African plantains look like that and match your "Lime green midrib, leaves hanging over,petioles shape and copper-bronze undersides" description perfectly. When it blooms it's easier to be definite.

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

Do you think he's more likely to get a misslabled african plantain from greenearth?

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

I could only wish it was an African plantain. That would be cool. I was afraid I got another Mysore Banana Plant. This Mysore Plant below doesn't look the same as the maybe Red Iholena Banana plant in the above pictures.

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'
 

There's no reason to doubt it's an Iholena 'Lele' unless/until there's reason to doubt it's a 'Lele'.

3 Iholena cultivars were imported from Hawaii during the 1970's, but there are many other Iholena in the U.S.

What Greenearth is selling, depends on which plant was used for tissue culture.

:ha: Greenearth probably uses magic to transform trays of Dwarf Orinoco into California Gold.

Re: Musa AAB Iholena 'Tigua'