Guess what I found today!!
 

I was on my way back from my nursery which is in the countryside and I decided to take some pix of the Musa acuminata subsp malaccensis. Somewhere along the way, I found a whole lot of seedlings over a 300 ft stretch which probably was the site of some wild boar's toilet! Out of these, there was a particularly beautiful one and just a few more nicely mottled seedlings. Before I got into 'naners I remember seeing big plants which were mottled and have been searching for them since. So, I guess today's the day!
Then again, not all of them retain their baby colors, so let's see how my luck holds... On the other hand since the M/a subsp sumatrana aka zebrina and this guy are related, there are bound to be a couple of loose arrows!

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

That's awesome Tog! Thanks for uploading a pic of it. Let's see what it grows to be!

BTW, I fixed your pic for you, the code you had was the code for the wiki so I put the code for the bulletin board in it's place.

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Thanks Jarred, you are so cool, like I say, I am a real blonk when it comes to computers! There's a landslide at the site where I picked up the seedlings. Maybe I should go back and 'rescue' the rest. But... what am I gonna do with so many of these plants!

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Enjoy them, Plant them, Sell them, Share them!

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Grow out some and I am certain some of us will want some for our collections. If you have malaccensis, count me in! Anything rare or out of the ordinary triggers my O.C.D.

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Hey Scot, this is the M/a malaccensis!

The mottled adult plants are extremely rare. In my years of plant hunting, I have seen like 2. Then I wasn't into 'naners and didn't know its value. Seedlings here which are mottled are not common. I counted like about 200+ seedlings in this area and less than 10 are mottled. I took the best ones. Most you see on them is a streak or two of red. You can find literally tons of seedlings here but they are all waxy green(quite pretty really). The reason I am so excited about this find is the intense mottling on the leaf. It has to be a wild boar which gobbled up a whole bunch of fruits and then spread them over such a large area. And... this bunch of fruits may have the mottled gene more than others. If it was done by birds or monkeys, you see only a couple of random seedlings, not this many. Here, because of a big creature 'doing gardening', we get a whole 'nursery' of seedlings from a single seed source. Now, it just leaves my luck to see if the color stay.
I will back this with my observation while I was in the reptile trade. King cobras Ophiophagus hannah, are born multi colored. Real pretty. But they loose out to their adult coloration of different shades of olive drab. I have only seen one specimen which retained its hatchling colors, a fantastic 16ft specimen. So you see, it is very remote but it can happen!
Cheers!

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

And remember Tog that many tropical fish (angels, some wrasses) have completely different but beautiful coloration as juveniles from their adult patterns. Good luck!

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Good evening Tog Tan,

It is great to hear some of the Musa a. malaccensis are in "safe haven. " I have been trying to obtain some of these fertile seed producers for over a year. The "Golden Beauty" that was produced in the twenties that gets is resistant to fusarium and black sigatoka from malaccensis, when it was crossed with Gros Michele. This fertile banana may be a bit "seedy" but that is a very good thing. If you make these available I am interested.

Best wishes,

Caloosamusa

Re: Guess what I found today!!
 

Those are very nice, Tog! It would be nice if it kept the red coloration, but even if it doesn't it is a nice plant. Thanks for posting!

Frank