Musa acuminata Red Dacca'

The Red Banana Tree or Musa acuminata 'Red Dacca' is a beautiful fruit variety, both ornamental and unique, and rare in cultivation. It produces pink bananas that are suitable for eating, with a sweet taste and a hint of raspberry aroma. The trunk is coloured brown-red, and the leaves are broad and green. With small growth, it can be grown in a pot, indoors, in a greenhouse or conservatory, or even in the house to protect it from the cold during winter and bring it outside in the warmer season. The most important thing is that it benefits from warmth and light.

The Musa acuminata 'Red Dacca' belongs to the Musa family. It is an herbaceous plant that generally does not exceed 2m in height and 1.50m in width indoors. The Banana Tree does not have a trunk but a stipe formed by overlapping leaf sheaths. Its growth is rapid, and it is a water and nutrient-hungry plant that struggles with temperatures below 10°C and thrives in warm and humid atmospheres.

The foliage of the dwarf banana 'Red Dacca', sensitive to wind, consists of large leaves carried by a petiole. The lamina, clearly divided into two by a robust central vein, measures up to 1m in length and 40-50cm in width. Its colour is medium to dark green. This plant needs light and warmth throughout the year to flower and bear fruit. The large purple floral bud appears between the leaves during the summer at the top of the stipe. The pendulous inflorescence bears both male and female flowers. It can reach a length of 40 to 50cm. Brownish-red to purple bracts surround small cream-coloured flowers. If the plant receives enough water, warmth, and light, they are followed by the formation of bunches of bananas about 10cm long, which turn pink-brown when ripe. These fruits have all the organoleptic characteristics of commercial bananas, with an added hint of raspberry flavour.

The Red Banana Tree 'Red Dacca' can only be grown in containers or large pots in our climates. It can spend the summer outside, sheltered from the wind and intense sunlight, but must be brought indoors as soon as nighttime temperatures drop below 10°C. It makes a beautiful addition to a conservatory, heated greenhouse, or bright room. It pairs well with other exotic plants, such as the bird of paradise, Strelitzia reginae.

Like perennial plants, banana trees go dormant during winter: their above-ground parts dry up and die. Our teams prune plants shipped in winter to the ground (leaves and stems) to allow for better growth in spring.