plant foliage banana Musa basjoo
Succulent Plants
Aloe
Agave
Cactus
Crassula
Haworthia
Mesemb
Foliage/Tropical
Alocasia
Banana
Cycad
Palm
Peperomia
Musa basjoo is one of the most cold hardy banana plants. The rootstock, if protected with mulch, can withstand heavy frosts although the pseudostem may be killed. The foliage may briefly tolerate a degree or so of freezing weather. The bananas are not edible. Musa basjoo is commonly referred to as the Japanese Fiber Banana and its native origin is given as the Liu Kiu Islands. Musa basjoo is not from the Liu Kiu Islands and not from Japan; it is a Chinese species. Reportedly, there are no Musa native to Japan. In warm climates, Musa basjoo can grow up to 2 feet in a week. At 40°F it will stop active growth. The tree can be cut back to a 2ft height as it will grow back rapidly as the warm season approaches again. Though the banana plant has the appearance of a sort of palm tree, and is often called a banana palm, it is actually considered a perennial herb. Also quite thick, the fibrous stems are made of layers of leaves that are wrapped around each other. When growing Musa basjoo, a high humidity of 50% is desirable. Hot dry air can bake the tender leaves. Your soil should remain consistently moist throughout the growing season. It would be good practice to mist the leaves every so often. You can easily grow the Fiber Banana indoors. Prior to shipment, your Musa basjoo will be trimmed of leaves and packaged without soil. Due to damage concerns and freight charges, the method of shipping a full-size plant would not be practical. Our healthy tubers generally weigh 6-8 oz, and you can expect your first leaf to appear within 5-7 days. The musa basjoo rhizomes are carefully packed for Winter shipping, but cannot be left outside all day. BANANA FACTS: Scholars of history often debate whether the actual forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden was an apple. The Koran states that it was a banana. In his campaign in India in 327 BCE, Alexander the Great relished his first taste of the banana, an unusual fruit he saw growing on tall trees. He is even credited with bringing the banana from India to the Western world. By 1402, Portuguese sailors discovered the luscious tropical fruit in their travels to the African continent and populated the Canary lslands with their first banana plantations. Almost five-hundred years later, Americans tasted the first bananas to arrive in this country. Wrapped in tinfoil, bananas were sold for 10 cents each at a celebration held in Pennsylvania in 1876. By the end of the 1800s, the U.S. was importing 16 million bunches of bananas a year from Central America. Though there are about 300 species of bananas, only 20 varieties are commercially cultivated. -- Native Habitat: China -- USDA Plant Hardiness: 5b to 11 -- -- keywords: | ||||||||||||||||
