Description
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"Clump forming herbaceous plant to c. 4 m high. Suckers
emerging from below ground level on the corm, initially near vertically, up to 10 cm from
the parent; suckers slightly waxy, vertical in young clumps but becoming angled outwards
in the larger older clumps. Mature pseudostem up to 3.5 m high, slender to
4 cm in diameter at 30 cm above the ground, tapering gradually upwards and spreading at
between 30-45º from the vertical; dark purplish black and somewhat shiny in the basal
half, dull yellowish green in the upper half, swollen at junction with the corm which is
c.10 cm in diameter. Inner sheath cream tinged with purple, undersheath yellow,
shiny. Sap watery. Upper margin of sheath (shoulder) smooth,
appressed, not scarious. Fourth last leaf:
right handed to 3 cm; petiole 16-20 cm x 8 mm, dull yellowish with a pinkish edge to the
margins, petiole channel closed in the proximal half, open distally, the channel small,
about one quarter of the depth of the petiole; blade 120-150 x c. 20 cm; more or less
narrowly elliptic, broadest about or slightly above the middle, broadly pointed but often
tattered at the apex, cuneate at the base, very white waxy underneath, dull green not waxy
above. Inflorescence
hanging vertically downwards, peduncle slightly waxy, glabrous, smooth. Female
bud, 40 x 4 cm, orange to slightly pink, pruinose with wax outside, imbricate for
nearly half the length. Bracts lifting to c. 45% straight, not curling back but somewhat
channelled, bright shining orange underneath. Basal flowers mostly fully
hermaphrodite, c. 9 cm long, the ovary cream, the compound tepal green, pale proximally,
darker distally, the free tepal unwrinkled, or wrinkled irregularly, more or less truncate
but with three short points. Stamens 5, variously ranging in size from fully
developed with apparently fertile pollen to tiny staminodes. Style green, as long as
the flower, stigma globose, cream. Fruit bunch hanging vertically down, fairly lax,
the fruits reflexed upwards, 8-10 'hands' with the bananas in two rows with 8-10 fruits in
the second 'hand'. Fruits pale whitish-green, ripening pale yellow, not
splitting open, ovules in two rows per loculus. Pedicel c. 10 x 5 mm, fruit 6-9 x
0.8-1.0 cm, straight or curved, almost smoothly cylindrical hardly angled, contracted at
the apex to a darker green 'beak' for 5-6 mm. Seeds dark greyish-black,
slightly elongated, small c. 2.5 x 2 mm, almost smooth but with irregular very low
tubercles.
Male axis vertical, glabrous, pruinose,
pinkish-purple, 30-140 cm long, the scars somewhat prominent, the peduncle almost smooth
and only very weakly vertically striate, the bract scars well-spaced 13-2.5 cm apart in
the same rank. Male bud slender, from 15-22 x 1.8-3 cm, broadest at about
one quarter of its length from the base, imbricate for between one third to one half of
its length, bright orange except for the tips of the bracts which are green. Male
bracts lifting to 45º straight, not curling back but the margins slightly inrolled
longitudinally; slightly pruinose-waxy, orange with green tips outside, bright, somewhat
shiny not waxy orange inside. Male flowers 30-45 mm. long, creamy at the
base, green in the distal half, compound tepal with the three major lobes up to 4 mm
acutely pointed and irregularly fimbriate with long hairs to c. 1 mm long, the two minor
lobes free for c. 1 mm and minutely mucronate, free tepal c. 4 mm shorter than the
compound tepal, translucent white, irregularly three-pointed the lateral points broad the
central point smaller, firmer, greenish-yellow. Stamens 5, creamy white, the anther
over half the length of the stamen. Style slender, the length of the flower,
broadened slightly towards the stigma."
(Argent
2000). |