MUSA
INFO + CARE
genus: Musa L.
type: gigantic herbaceous plants
family: Musaceae
native range: Indomalayan realm and parts of north-eastern Australasia.
zone: 10 to 11
height: up to 9 m
spread: to 4 m
type species: Musa acuminata Colla
bloom time: Seasonal bloomer
bloom description: Cream to yellow
sun: full sun
water: medium
maintenance: medium
soil type: loose, well-draining, 'breathing' potting mix
Musa belongs to the family Musaceae, which consists of three genera. A genus is composed of 83 species of fruiting plants that produce edible bananas and plantains. Though they grow as high as trees, banana and plantain plants are not woody and their apparent "stem" is made up of the bases of the huge leaf stalks. They are, therefore, technically large flowering plants.
Bananas are among the oldest existing herbaceous plants, some reaching as high as 9 m or 18 m for Musa ingen. The large herb is composed of a modified underground stem (rhizome), a false trunk of tightly rolled petioles, a network of roots, and a large flower spike. The false trunk is an aggregation of the basal part of the leaf sheath; only when the plant is ready to bloom does the true stem grow through the sheath and drop back to the ground. At the end of this stem, a peduncle forms (with M. ingens having the second-longest peduncle known, exceeded only by Agave salmiana), bearing many female flowers protected by large purple-red bracts. The extension of the stem (the rachis) continues growth downward, where terminal male flowers grow. The leaves originate from a pseudostem and unroll to show a leaf blade with two lamina halves. In M. Truncata of the Malay Peninsula, this lamina may reach as high as seven metres in length.
Musa species reproduce by both sexual (seed) and asexual (suckers) processes, using asexual means when producing sterile (unseeded) fruits. Other distinguishing characteristics of Musa include spiral leaves, fruits as berries, the presence of latex producing cells, flowers with five connate tepals and one member of the inner whorl distinct, and a petiole with one row of air channels.
Most of Indomalayan territory, and parts of North Eastern Australasia, is included in the local distribution of the genus Musa. It has spread to a number of other parts of the world, with tropical or subtropical climates.
Carl Linnaeus first called Musa a genus in 1753. The name is a Latinization of the Arabic name for the fruit, mauz. Mauz meaning Musa is discussed in the 11th-century Arabic encyclopedia The Canon of Medicine, which was translated to Latin in medieval times and well known in Europe. The fruit is also known as munzu in the Turkic, Persian and Somali languages. A number of sources say that the name Musa is in honour of Antonius Augustus, Emperor Musa's physician.
Linguist Mark Donohue and archaeologist Tim Denham think that in the Trans Guinean languages, where some varieties of bananas are referred to as *Muku*, Latinized formmusa has its ultimate origin. In that time, it was used in the Austronesian languages of this area and then spread to Persian, Greek, and Arabic as Wanderworts throughout Asia using the Dravidian language of India.
Cultural information should only be used as a guide, and should be to be adapted to suit you. Your physical location; where you grow your plants, how much time you have to devote to their care, and many other factors, will need to be taken into account. Only then can you decide on the cultural methods that best suit you and your plants.
Musa plants are best grown in organically rich, medium moisture, well-drained soil in full sun. Plants tolerate and often appreciate some part shade or light filtered sun in the heat of the day. They need consistently moist soils that do not dry out. Fertilize regularly during growing season. Site plants in areas protected from strong winds which can severely damage the large leaves. For containers, use a well-drained potting soil mix. Keep container soils consistently moist but not wet. Outdoor plants must be overwintered indoors, either as houseplants or by forcing plants into dormancy.
Options for overwintering include: (1) Bring container indoors in fall before first frost and place in a large sunny room for overwintering as a houseplant, with reduced water and fertilization; (2) If plant is too large to bring inside as a houseplant, cut foliage back to 6-8” in fall after first frost, and store container in a cool, dark, frost-free corner of the basement until spring. It is best to provide just a touch of moisture as needed in winter to prevent the soils from totally drying out; (3) If container is too heavy or too large to bring inside, remove plant from container in fall before first frost, wrap roots in plastic and store in a cool, dark, frost-free corner of the basement until spring. When using this option, foliage may be trimmed back or left on the plant and allowed to brown up in the normal course; (4) If growing plants directly in the ground, dig, wrap roots, trim back the leaves and store as in option #3 above.
Tips:
- do not let the substrate dry out between the waterings. It cannot be soggy, but it should be never left to dry out
