Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

I thought I had a flag leaf when I moved it into the greenhouse, but it wasn't extremely obvious. Well, it was a flag! So today I noticed that the bud has begun to emerge...and it definitely is NOT orange, LOL!

Pics taken with a cell phone, so they aren't the best. I'll bring my real camera into the greenhouse this week and get some better shots.





Whatever this banana turns out to be, it is beautiful and highly ornamental. The leaves are slightly mottled red, much like M. sikkimensis. I honestly don't think it is M. aurantiaca though, based on the description by Hakkinen. The lack of orange color is sort of a giveaway!

Frank

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Wow, Frank....beautiful! Can't wait to see how it progresses.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Beautifull, bright colour. Congratulations!
:woohoonaner:

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Whatever it is, Im sure you will enjoy it!

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

nice Frank how tall is it Pink Banana? is that Musa V.?

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

I haven't measured it yet, and it's kind of difficult to get a shot of the entire plant, due to where it is in the greenhouse (back corner). Both pictures were taken in the Southwest corner of the greenhouse, looking North. The corm on this pseudostem is huge, having about 4 inches of it above the soil level now! I barely got it to the greenhouse without breaking the pseudostem. I did break the pseudostem of my M. balbisiana var. liukiuensis, and it turns out the bud was about to emerge when it broke. I'm 6'7", and taking a picture of the plant at eye level, so it is a tall ornamental. The pot is about a foot tall.

It is a very vigorous Musa! I have had it struggling in this pot for over a year now. I have had to fertilize plentifully to get it to grow well, and it is starting to become chlorotic again. I'm going to cross it with Musa dasycarpa/velutina and M. mannii pollen, maybe even M. basjoo. Not sure if M. basjoo would cross with a Rhodoclamys Musa, but guess I'll try it anyway. M. balbisiana will cross with M. velutina, so there is precedent.

Something that this Musa reminds me of is M. sikkimensis. I'm looking forward to see the flowering habit of this plant. Maybe it could be a M. velutina/M. sikkimensis hybrid? That would be interesting.

Frank

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Absolutely gorgeous! Thanx for the pics!

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

excel frank

I wonder if Phil Brown has any idea where it was collected and what it could be?

Anyway, get some seeds sorted off it :-)

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Nice! Thanks, Frank.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

An update on this banana:

The first two hands that opened up looked like female flowers, but upon closer inspection had a few vestigial stamens in each flower. The third hand opened up yesterday, and I was shocked to see that the flowers look hermaphrodite! There is definitely pollen on the anthers, but it remains to be seen if the stigmas are functional.

Sorry again for the cell phone pics...I will try and remember to bring my camera in and take some better pics!







The bananas emerge green initially, then turn purple after a few days. I did cross-pollinate the first two hands with Musa dasycarpa and M. mannii pollen, so we'll see what happens!

Frank

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Very beautiful, Frank! Let's hope you can get some hybrids from this plant.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

If I did, I wouldn't know how to name it, since this plant is quite obviously not Musa aurantiaca, which has a bright orange bud. It also grows much taller than M. aurantiaca. It's possible that this could be a new species or a hybrid itself. The leaves do slightly resemble M. sikkimensis, so I wonder if it could be a hybrid between M. sikkimensis and M. velutina. The bud looks like it is starting to lean in one direction, so if it starts growing sideways it will be even more likely that it is a hybrid. I'm just speculating ridiculously, LOL.

Whatever it is, thanks to Phil Markey of Trebrown in the UK for collecting these seeds in India!

Frank

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Vivid colors!!! Very nice.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

its just getting better and Better what intensity of color what ever it is grow me a seedling heheheh id say send me a seed but I'm notoriously bad with Banana seeds i have sees that are two years old and no germanation yet

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

OK, here's some better pictures from a real camera.

The third hand with hermaphrodite flowers:


Male flowers on the fourth hand:


An overall shot of the bud. You can see that the third hand has already started to turn red, and the first hand is very dark red by now.



This pup, the only one on this plant, shows the reddish coloration on the newer leaves (just a little bit on this leaf). Similar to M. sikkimensis in this regard, and to the reddish coloration on the undersides of the new leaves.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

How are things progressing Frank?

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

frank, i will love to tc this type.may i buy a pup? i also have new hybrid maybe M velutina x M ornata.

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Very Nice Pictures.. Banana looks great :^)

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Mark, things are progressing nicely! A total of 8 bananas were pollinated, 4 with M. velutina pollen and 4 with M. mannii pollen. Only 2 of the bananas pollinated with M. velutina pollen were fertilized, but all 4 of the bananas pollinated with M. mannii pollen have been fertilized.





Looking good so far! Hopefully I can get a few seeds to germinate.

Frank

Re: Musa aurantiaca from Trebrown Nursery is starting to bloom
 

Thanks Frank, look forwards to seeing what germinates, and what you decide to call them:ha: