Zebrina Banana - Musa acuminata var. sumatrana Musa acuminata var. sumatrana is a wild, seed-producing banana plant from the Musaceae... Read more
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Musa acuminata var. sumatrana
No. The leaves are damaged at temperatures close to 0°C, and growth stops below about 10°C. It is suited to USDA zones 9–11, so it cannot be overwintered outdoors in the ground in Poland.
Before the first cold weather, usually in September, move the plant to a bright room where the temperature stays above 15°C. Reduce watering in winter, stop fertilizing, and check the undersides of the leaves regularly, as spider mites can appear in dry air.
In nature, it usually reaches 2–2.7 m in height, and its leaves can grow up to 1.3–1.5 m long. In a pot, the plant stays smaller—usually around 1–1.5 m—and grows well in containers. Choose a stable, suitably large pot with a drainage hole.
In a warm, bright spot, it grows quickly, producing a new leaf every few to several days during the height of the growing season. In winter, growth slows considerably with lower temperatures and less light.
The best choice is fertile, humus-rich, well-draining soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH, such as all-purpose potting soil mixed with perlite. In summer, keep the soil consistently slightly moist, but do not let water collect in the saucer.
Yes, banana plants have high nutrient requirements. From spring until the end of summer, apply liquid fertilizer every 1–2 weeks, preferably one with a higher potassium content. Stop fertilizing in winter.
The fruits are edible but small (about 5–6.5 cm) and full of hard, black seeds, so they are not suitable for dessert. The plant is grown mainly as an ornamental.
Mature plants can flower, but this is rare in pots in temperate climates and requires several years of good care. The flower cluster has purple bracts. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies and is replaced by suckers.
Choose a bright spot with filtered light or light partial shade, sheltered from wind that can split the large leaves. Excessively strong sun can fade the red coloration, while too little light causes the patterns to fade.
The Zebrina banana is one of the most ornamental wild forms of banana. In the gardening trade, it is sold under many names: Musa acuminata var. sumatrana, Musa sumatrana, Musa zebrina, Musa acuminata 'Zebrina', and in English, blood banana. All these names refer to a group of wild, seed-bearing forms of Musa acuminata with green leaves marked by dark red spots. The following guide brings together the most important information about its structure, origin, growing requirements, and significance.
Banana plants are not trees but very large perennial herbs. What looks like a trunk is a pseudostem - a column made up of tightly rolled leaf sheaths, from which successive leaf blades emerge. The true stem is the underground rhizome, which produces suckers. In wild plants from Java, described by ProMusa as var. zebrina, the pseudostems are slender, 2.0-2.7 m tall and 6-9 cm in diameter, with brown spots and no waxy coating. A clump can contain up to a dozen or more pseudostems.
The leaves are lance-shaped, 1.3-1.5 m long and 26-34 cm wide, with a truncate tip and a cuneate base. The upper surface is green, often with purplish-brown or dark red stripes and marbling-like spots, while the underside has a purple tint and a bluish coating. The petioles reach 35-40 cm and are purple with black markings at the base. The most distinct patterns are visible on young plants - as they age, the red may fade and the leaf blades become more uniformly green.
The literature gives varying dimensions for this plant: Wikipedia lists 6-8 feet (approx. 1.8-2.4 m) in the wild and 3-5 feet (approx. 0.9-1.5 m) in a pot; ProMusa's data for wild plants from Java gives 2.0-2.7 m. When grown in containers in Europe, you can therefore realistically expect a plant 1-2 m tall, depending on pot size, light, and growing season length.
Like most banana plants, Zebrina grows quickly if it has warmth, light, water, and nutrients. At the height of the growing season, it can produce a new leaf every few days to a couple of weeks; each successive leaf is usually larger than the previous one. When the temperature falls below about 10°C, growth practically stops and the plant enters a state of relative dormancy.
Older leaves naturally dry out and can be removed from the pseudostem. Suckers grow from the rhizome and eventually form a dense clump. When grown in containers, growth is limited by the volume of the growing medium - in a smaller pot, the plant stays shorter, while in a large container or in the ground in summer, it grows noticeably faster.
Each pseudostem flowers only once. After producing enough leaves, an inflorescence emerges from the top. It is horizontal at first, then droops and grows up to 1.1 m long. Female flowers with a conspicuous cream to bright yellow stigma are found at the base, followed by male flowers, 16–18 in each whorl, protected by purple bracts. The tip of the inflorescence is capped by an oval male bud, 5.5–7.8 cm long, dark purple on the outside and bright purple inside.
A bunch consists of 5–8 “hands” of 14–16 fruits each, with fewer fruits on the lower hands. The fruits are small—5.0–6.6 cm long and 1.5–1.9 cm in diameter—with thin skin and yellowish flesh that softens as it ripens. Each contains 60–80 hard, angular, black seeds about 6 mm in diameter. This is what distinguishes wild bananas from dessert varieties, which are triploid and set fruit without pollination (parthenocarpy). Wild Musa acuminata is diploid (2n = 22), and its male flowers produce abundant, fertile pollen.
After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, and the plant regenerates from suckers. For amateur growers, suckers are the easiest way to increase the number of plants: separate them from the parent plant once they have roots of their own. In temperate climates, potted plants rarely flower, and doing so requires several years of cultivation in very favorable conditions.
Light: A bright spot with indirect light or light partial shade is best. The plant tolerates full sun after gradual acclimatization, although growers have observed that intense sunlight may weaken the red coloration of the leaves, while too little light causes the patterns to fade and the leaves to become leggy.
Temperature: The optimum is 20–30°C with high air humidity. The species is sensitive to cold: growth stops below about 10°C, and leaves are damaged at temperatures close to freezing. Gardening sources give this form a USDA hardiness range of 9–11; a few catalogs even list zone 8, but this only refers to the rhizome surviving after the above-ground parts freeze in a very mild climate. Young plants must always be protected from frost.
Soil and water: Bananas prefer fertile, humus-rich, well-draining soil with a slightly acidic to neutral pH. A mix of all-purpose or compost-based potting soil with added perlite or fine bark works well. During the growing season, the soil should be kept consistently moist but not wet—standing water in cooler temperatures encourages rhizome rot. The large leaves are sensitive to wind, which tears them easily, so choose a sheltered spot.
In Poland and most of Central Europe, Musa zebrina is grown in a container. From late May, once nights are consistently warm, it can be moved to a patio, balcony, or garden - summer warmth and light noticeably speed up growth and enhance the leaf coloration. Before the first cold weather, usually in September, bring the plant indoors.
For winter, place it in a bright spot at temperatures above 15°C - by a window, in a conservatory, or in a heated greenhouse. Water sparingly, just enough to keep the soil slightly moist, and stop fertilizing. Dry air in heated homes encourages spider mites, so check the undersides of the leaves regularly and maintain adequate humidity.
From spring through late summer, fertilize regularly - banana plants need plenty of nutrients, especially potassium and nitrogen. A liquid fertilizer applied every 1-2 weeks works well. Repotting into a larger pot every year or two gives the plant room to grow. For container growing, a heavy, stable pot is useful, as tall plants with large leaves can easily tip over.
Zebrina is prized mainly for its leaves. The red-marbled leaf blades, with their purple undersides, look particularly striking when backlit, as sunlight shines through them. The plant works beautifully as a specimen in a large pot on a patio, as part of an exotic-style garden, or as a focal point in a conservatory.
It pairs well with other tropical-looking plants, including colocasias, alocasias, cannas, ginger plants, palms, and tree ferns. Its moderate size and slender pseudostems make it one of the easier banana plants to accommodate indoors - provided it has a bright spot.
Musa acuminata was described in 1820 by the Italian botanist Luigi Colla. The specific epithet acuminata comes from the Latin word acuminatus, meaning “pointed.” The red-spotted form from Java appeared in European literature in 1854 as Musa zebrina, described in the journal Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe; the name refers to the “zebra-like” red stripes on young leaves. In 1991, Indonesian botanist Rusdy E. Nasution classified the plant as Musa acuminata var. zebrina and also described similar forms, var. sumatrana and var. nakaii.
The nomenclature of this group remains unsettled. Kew (World Checklist / POWO) includes var. zebrina in Musa acuminata subsp. acuminata, and the commonly used name “subsp. zebrina” has never been validly published. In popular literature, var. sumatrana is sometimes treated as synonymous with var. zebrina, though Nasution treated them as distinct. In addition, the names “Zebrina” and “Musa sumatrana” are sometimes used in the trade for a seedless garden cultivar - but seeds can only come from wild, fertile forms.
The Musa acuminata group played a huge role in the history of banana domestication, which began about 7,000 years ago in New Guinea and Wallacea. The zebrina form was one of the first banana plants spread by people beyond Southeast Asia - west to Africa, where it is considered one of the ancestors of East African Highland bananas, and into the Pacific. In Hawaii, it is known as mai'a 'oa. In Java, it has local names, including cau kole (Sundanese) and gedang cici (Javanese).
Zebrina Banana is a good choice for anyone who wants an exotic foliage plant with truly exceptional coloring but does not have room for large banana plants that grow several meters tall. It is well suited to tropical-style garden enthusiasts, owners of patios and conservatories, and collectors of wild Musa species.
Cultivation is not complicated: the plant grows quickly, responds well to fertilizer and warmth, and the only real challenge in our climate is providing a bright, warm place for it to spend the winter. It is also an interesting species for anyone interested in the history of cultivated plants - a wild relative of the bananas we know from grocery stores.
Musa acuminata var. sumatrana, sold as Zebrina Banana, is a wild, seed-bearing banana plant with green leaves marked with dark red spots and purple undersides. It usually reaches 2-2.7 m in the wild and around 1-1.5 m in a pot, grows quickly, and produces clumps of suckers. It is not frost-hardy (USDA 9-11), so in Central Europe it is grown in containers and overwintered in a bright room above 15°C. The species Musa acuminata is classified as “Least Concern” on the IUCN Red List, and POWO (Kew) treats zebrina forms as part of Musa acuminata subsp. acuminata.
Very Large plant choice
just I found it quite annoying that the majority was palm seeds,
not what i like the most
Snelle levering (vanuit Polen) en zaden zien er goed uit.
