| Description |
"Leaves more erect than in banana, narrowing very much at base and
running into the stalk. Inflorescence erect. Bracts of male flowers oval,
acuminate. Male flowers about 1½ in. long, perianth five-toothed, the two exterior
lobes cuspidate ; free tepal ¾ as long as perianth, with rounded or emarginate
apex. Fruit 3 - 3½ in. long by 1 in. broad, 3 - 4 ribbed, with a short, thick
beak. Seeds numerous, about ¼ in. long, brown, rough with tubercles". (Fawcett 1913).
"Plants emitting stolons
freely, the pseudostem slender, 1.5 - 2.0 m. high, green and marked with brackish purple
blotches ; leaf-blade up to 2 m. long, 40 cm. wide ; petioles 50 - 70 cm. long, with
scarious margins, strongly grooved, slightly expanded into narrow auricles at the basal
part ; inflorescence quite erect ; peduncle pubescent ; sterile bracts usually 1, with
narrow and short foliage lamina, 50 - 70 cm. long, base broadened, lower side green, upper
side reddish purple, usually persistent at the opening of the male flowers ; 5 - 7 basal
hands female, upper hands male ; female flowers 3 - 5 per bract, in a single row or partly
in two rows, the ovary 5.5 - 6.5 cm. long, white, the compound tepal 3.5 - 4.0 cm long,
the free tepal obovate, 3.0 - 3.5 cm. long, staminodes shorter than the style, 1.0 - 1.4
cm. long, the style 3 cm. long, with a globose stigma 7 - 8 mm. in diameter ; male bud, in
advanced stage of blooming, narrowly ovoid, acute, the bracts imbricate ; bract purplish
pink, the outer surface shining without shade of glaucousness, lanceolate-oblong or ovate,
the lowest ones about 10 cm. long, 4 cm. wide, deflexed but not rolled back, very soon
deciduous ; male flowers 3 - 6 per bract in a single row or partly in two rows, the
compound tepal 3.2 - 4.0 cm long, orange in the upper part and nearly white at the base,
ribbed at the dorsal angles, with 5-toothed apex, the outer lobes ovate, cuspidate, inner
three lobes rotundate, central one larger than the laterals, the free tepal 2.3 - 3.5 cm.
long, oblanceolate, rotundate and entire or with a few irregular serrations, the stamens
longer than the free tepal, filaments 1.4 - 1.8 cm. long, anthers 1.5- 2.0 cm. long ;
fruit bunch rather compact, its peduncles and rachis pubescent, the fingers inflexed to
stand almost parallel to the rachis ; individual fruit 8 - 13 cm long, about 2 cm. in
diameter, cylindrical with 4 - 5 angles, pedicel short and obscure, apical part
bottle-neck-shaped with truncate apex, the pericarp thin, powdery green and usually
blotched reddish purple ; seeds cylindrical obpyriform, tuberculate, 4 - 5 mm. long, 2.5 -
3.0 mm. in diameter".
(Hotta
1967).
Height to about 3m.
Inflorescence erect. Bracts bright purple, flowers orange-yellow, fruit very
pale whitish-green irregularly mottled with purple.
(from Cranbrook & Edwards 1994). |