Ensete perrieri, The Madagascar Banana and A Banana Beauty Contest

Scientific name: Ensete perrieri

Common name: Madagascar Banana
Family: Musaceae

Category: Ornamental banana

Origin: Madagascar

Photo taken at: Floria 2010.

This unique banana species is native to Madagascar. It looks lik a banana plant and has a waxy bluish trunk that bulges at the base. The leaves have yellowish midribs and are held on by very short stalks. The crown looks like a shuttlecock.

Musa velutina, The Self-Peeling Hairy Pink Banana

Scientific name: Musa velutina

Common name: Royal Purple Banana, Self-Peeling Banana, Hairy Banana, Baby Pink Banana

Family: Musaceae

Category: Ornamental banana

Origin: India and Southeast Asia

Photo taken at: Floria 2010.

“Musa velutina - The Self-Peeling Hairy Pink Banana”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on April 29th, 2011.

'Velutina' is a Latin word meaning 'velvety'. The bloom and fruits are covered with tiny hairs which gives it a velvet texture. Unlike the other ornamental bananas that bear green to yellow fruits, the fruits of the Musa velutina are strikingly special in that they are pinkish purple in colour. When ripe, they self-peel and open to reveal the white banana flesh underneath. The bunch of fruits looks like another beautiful flower. The plant can reach a height of 2 m.

Earth Day Reading Project Blog Meme 2011

As a tribute to Earth Day this year which falls on April 22nd, 2011 (also Good Friday), The Sage Butterfly in her Earth Day Reading Project - Blog Meme post has invited me to participate. The rules as detailed in her website are as follows:

A Wine Coloured Blood Banana and My Google Adsense, Nuffnang Money

Scientific name: Musa zebrina

Common name: Blood Banana

Family: Musaceae

Category: Ornamental banana

Origin: Sumatra, Indonesia

Photo taken at: Floria 2010.

5Rs To A Gardener's Sustainable Living 2011 and April 2011 GBBD

Etlingera elatior, edible Torch Ginger flowers

In conjunction with Earth Day which falls on Friday, April 22nd, 2011, Jan Doble of Thanks for Today blog is hosting the 2nd Annual Gardeners' Sustainable Living Project 2011. It is also time for April's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day and Fertilizer Friday!

While displaying April's blooms from my garden, I shall also write down some of the things that I have been doing and plan to do towards a sustainable lifestyle.

Musa beccarii N.W. Simmonds - An Exotic Wild Banana Beauty From Borneo

It has a name that reminds me of champagne and Ferrari.

This small and slender ornamental banana has erect inflorescences with bright red bracts that are yellow and green at the tips. It can be grown in a container or on the ground where it can reach a height of about 3-3.5 m tall. The leaves are bright green, narrow and oblong. The fruits also appear upright and in groups of 2-5 hands, each hand having 1-3 fruits. The blooms last a long time and suitable as cut flowers.

A Bronze Banana Named Musa laterita Cheeseman - Wordless Wednesday

Musella lasiocarpa - A Chinese Dwarf Banana That Looks Like a Lotus

This is no April Fool's Day joke! This plant is not a true banana but a relative of the banana. The erect yellow flowers looks like a golden lotus which is a sacred flower in Buddhism. Sometimes, it is marketed as an auspicious Chinese New Year plant. The foliage is grey-green in colour. The plant is only about 3-4 ft tall.