Musa acuminata - Banana

The Musa acuminata is a botanical Banana Tree native to the tropics, rarely cultivated as a species type because the bananas it produces contain many large seeds that make consumption quite unpleasant. It is a fast-growing species that can only feasibly be grown in our climates in a greenhouse, ensuring sufficient winter temperatures, which requires heating equipment. Spectacular with its huge, vibrant green leaves, it forms an imposing clump that dies after producing a bunch of bananas, renewing itself through suckers that sprout from the base.

With 63 species, the Musa genus is the most significant in the Musaceae family, which it lends its name to, alongside the Ensete genus. The Musa acuminata species originates from a broad region of Southeast Asia stretching from India to the Philippines, including southern China, Malaysia, and Thailand. It grows wild from sea level up to 1,200 metres' altitude, in humid forests and even marshy areas. In these warm and moist conditions, the plant exhibits very rapid growth and can reach up to 6 metres in height, sometimes more. It forms a false trunk called a pseudostem made up of the leaf sheathing bases which, stacked together, provide enough rigidity to grow up to 4 or 5 metres tall. Despite its trunk-like appearance, this axis is actually herbaceous, the Banana Tree being a monocotyledonous plant incapable of producing wood-type dicotyledons. Physiologically, despite its imposing size, it is closer to a herb than a tree. The leaves whose bases form the pseudostem unfurl with a lamina that can reach 3 metres long and 70 cm wide. The central leaves grow vertically while the lateral ones spread diagonally, forming a distinctive clump often battered by wind if grown in exposed conditions.
Upon reaching maturity, in 6 to 12 months depending on the climate, this Banana Tree produces an inflorescence as spectacular as its foliage. Borne on a 30 to 50 cm long peduncle, arched downward, the inflorescence—measuring 1.20 metres long—is a giant spike composed of male and female flowers which, after fertilisation by bats or bees, will yield 10 to 15 cm long, green or yellow-green bananas. These fertilised fruits contain brown to black seeds 5 to 6 mm in diameter, distributed throughout the flesh along the length of the banana, making them rather unpleasant to eat. In contrast, commonly cultivated Banana Trees are parthenocarpic, meaning their bananas do not contain any seeds. After producing this intense effort—as dozens of bananas ripen—the plant dies, but the stump produces suckers that will grow in its place.

The Musa acuminata is a spectacular wild plant but challenging to cultivate in our climates because it is strictly tropical and non hardy origin, ceasing growth below 10°C. You can grow it if you have a heated greenhouse in winter, along with a misting system for the warmer months, as it requires ambient humidity during the growing season. Container cultivation is possible, which will limit its growth, though in this case, it is wiser to choose its dwarf form, the Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish', equally evocative of the tropics but with proportions better suited to conservatory cultivation. For outdoor planting, exotic plant lovers may prefer the highly hardy and easy to grow Musa basjoo 'Sakhalin' well beyond Mediterranean regions.