The furry pink banana – Musa dasycarpa

Not so long ago I listed Musa velutina among the plants we are growing in the tropical glasshouse, now I know better!  This curious furry and pink fruited banana from Northeast India and Myanmar grows on a short (<2m) plant with typical banana leaves of light green. This is certaiwhat’re plant we are growing but it is no longer called M. velutina, an older name, Musa dasycarpa has priority and we should now be using that name according to research by HÄKKINEN and VÄRE.  Their work tracked down an image at Kew that formed suitable lectotype material to define M. dasycarpa and establish its correct application.  The photograph in the paper is by Martin Xanthos – one of our Botany graduates. 

If you are banana enthusiast you might like to vist Bananas.org, one of the more interesting if eccentric horticultural/botanical blogs in my personal opinion.