kaleidoscope_eyes

Stokes Tropicals in Louisiana used to sell it and it was traced back to the Laura Plantation.Been growing there since 1780 & thought to maybe have come from the Caribbean. I can pay via paypal....it would have to be shipped.I live in Texas.

smeash

Never heard of tis variety. Is 1780 the actual plant name or just a nickname? Sounds interesting. Is it a dessert banana?

cincinnana

Here is a link for the photo at the plantation.
I do not know if the photo is authentic.
Flower and fruit are visible.
Shape of fruit looks Orinoco but...

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-la...-53051163.html

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kaleidoscope_eyes

It is just a nickname. This was posted by another forum member:

"The 1780 is just like all the rest of the Cavendish - it comes from Asia. Claude Treme brought it to his home below the French Quarter. It or a pup of it wound up at the Laura Plantation in St James Parish, which is 40 miles upriver of the city (in this case it's just west of the city a bit)."

cincinnana

Has it been decided that the plant is just a cavendish.

If so the plant can purchased at big box stores for 15.00 bucks in season.
If logeee had it ....the plant was marketed as a rare plant from the past.
My guess as marketing gimmick

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edwmax

I agree with Cinci's comment above. The 1780 banana at the Laura Plantation would not be a Cavendish type banana. The OP stated in his 1st post the banana came from the Caribbean in 1780. If so then the banana was most likely an Orinoco/bluggoe type.



Cavendish banana, as named, didn't exist until 1830/1834. It was propagated from a plant obtained from the island Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. The Cavendish plants were then sent to Samoa with John Williams (Williams banana ?) and other South Sea Islands. The original plants at Maruritius were likely unique sports founding the Cavendish type and self contained on the Island or not wide spread elsewhere. .... Cavendish bananas entered commercial production about 1903.


The Orinoco/Bluggoe type banana was a common banana type grown in South and Central America. The Orinoco was imported & grown in Florida in 1610.


From the above linked photo, those plants being all green do look like Orinoco. I do not see any red or wine stains on the pup/young plants to say these are Cavendish. .... So if the so called '1780' banana is a Cavendish type then it would have had to been imported & grown at Laura Plantation in the late 1800s or early 1900s (may be later) and incorrectly named.


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Note added: Another reference indicates the Cavendish type may have come from Southern China to Mauritius (abt 1826) then on to England.

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cincinnana

Max....wtf..

I am so glad you did the digging on this one....
You are good..

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Backyard Banana Joe

edwmax

Thanks for the link... Per your post the 1780 is a Zebrina.

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edwmax

thanks ... It only took a couple of minutes to find the info and a lot longer to write up for the post.



Ad additional note about Cavendish bananas: The commercially grown variety are all clones of the Chatsworth House banana. ... But the Dwarf Cavendish came from China & Southeast Asia to Africa (?) then to the Canary Islands (1500s ?). And then imported to England from the Canary Islands by Thomas Fyffe about 1888. Portuguese & Spanish sailors were responsible for the spreading the Dwf Cavendish and possibly to the Caribbean (date?).

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Backyard Banana Joe

Thank you for taking the time to write that all up! Is it in the Wiki?

edwmax

I believe Wiki has most of it. .... But I used google for other references & links.

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smeash

Interesting! I always thought the dwarf cavendish originated at home depot