|
| |
David Bar-Zvi
The following is the text of an article on Musella lasiocarpa
by David Bar-Zvi from an issue of Fairchild Tropical Garden's Garden Views. The text
was kindly e-mailed by Susan Knorr, Editor, Garden Views, Fairchild Tropical Garden,
Florida.
The
1992 Cairns meeting of Heliconia Society International was the first introduction for many
of us to an all-but-unknown member of the family Musaceae, Musella lasiocarpa.
Until very recently,this lovely plant has been known only in its native habitat
around Kunming, China and the northernmost parts of Myanmar (Burma).
The showy, bright yellow inflorescences are set atop the large grey-green paddle leaves of
four-foot banana-like plants, reminiscent of a yellow king protea or a giant yellow globe
artichoke. When I first saw it, I knew it was something to write home about,
something worthy of Garden space, something to add to Fairchild's Zingiberales collection.
I immediately thought how wonderful it would
look planted as a colony. M. lasiocarpa is dramatic in the way a large
group of sunflowers can be or as bizarre as a yard full of Romneya coulteri
appears when encountered for the first time. It is altogether unforgettable.
And of course, it represents another piece in the picture that makes up the family
picture of Zingiberales.
Our first seeds seemed to take forever to germinate. Some of the hard, black,
buckshot-sized seed did germinate after more than a year, but racoons thought that they
were intended for a salad. It began to seem that our likelihood of growing Musella
from seed was low. Then Dr. John Kress [Smithsonian Institution] provided us with growing plants. We had our start. Through
the summer of 1996, our plants grew vigorously. As the nights began to cool, they
seemed to grow faster and by late November, the leaf blades emerged somewhat smaller,
signalling a change. The older leaves began to bend downward. The bright yellow
"bud" emerged. It was fascinating to watch a previously unknown organism!
The yellow bracts began to lay back and expose a few hands of tubular yellow
flowers. As Dr. Kress predicted, these were female flowers. The anthers
aborted and the remaining pistil was sound and functional. The enlarged ovary
between the floral tube and the base of the bract was a further indication that the first
flowers were functionally female. Over the following year the inflorescence
continued to develop, elongating and exposing more bracts which folded back. After
four to six layers of female flowers, the bracts were blind (no flowers).
Occasionally a hand in the mid-development stage is revealed; it may be either
bi-sexual or functionally male. Toward the distal end of the developed inflorescence
any flowers to appear are male. The vast majority of bracts are sterile. After
nine months to a year, the inflorescence is completely exhausted, resembling a yellow
spark followed by a trail of black smoke. The mother plant has now lived its life,
completing its cycle by producing small side shoots in the manner of its relative, Musa.
M.
lasiocarpa is the only species of Musella known to date. Possibly the
hardiest of the banana family, it grows abundantly where winters are wet and cool with
regular frosts and occasional snow that settles around the plants. Although
cultivated as an ornamental, it is also fed to livestock. The leaves are sturdy and
do not tear readily even in high winds. Our plants stood up very well to Hurricane
Irene, a category one hurricane. While our bananas and heliconias were shredded and
tangled, Musella was unscathed.
It
prefers soil that is fertile, well drained and rich in organic material. Regular
application of a balanced fertilizer or one which has a slightly higher ratio of potassium
seems to work very well. In warm climates, palm fertilizer with micronutrients is
useful. In experimenting with light conditions, we found the more sun, the better.
Planted in shaded areas, plants simply languished and began to die.
Not surprisingly, I found spider mites, which quickly infest all plants in the family
Zingiberales, to be a common pest. Plants grown under still, perhaps dry conditions
seem particularly attractive to mites. Regularly washing the leaves and growing the
plants out of doors as much as possible will keep this problem in check.
Because
of the potential hardiness of the plants and relative ease of culture, we might well see M.
lasiocarpa used in more landscapes. Until now, the relative difficulty of
obtaining the plants has made them expensive, but successful tissue culture could bring
this species within the reach of many gardeners. It would seem suitable to temperate
Europe and the west coast of North America, even as far north as south-western coastal
Canada, where the occasional palm can be seen and where I have grown Musa basjoo
in my Vancouver garden.
If
you have grown Musella lasiocarpa, please let us know about your experience of
growing it and other Zingiberales in your gardens.
David Bar Zvi
Curator of Herbaceous Monocots
Fairchild
Tropical Garden
| |
|