红花蕉 Musa coccinea

  • Scientific Name: Musa coccinea Andrews
  • Ref: Bot. Repos. 1: t.47 1799
  • Synonym: Quesnelia lamarckii Baker
  • English Common Name: scarlet banana, red-flowering banana
  • Chinese Common Name: 红花蕉 hónghuā∙jiāo, 红蕉 hóngjiāo, 芭蕉红 bājiāo∙hóng
  • Japanese Common Name: ヒメバショウ [姫芭蕉] himebashō
  • Family: Musaceae
  • Genus: Musa
  • Distribution: Ravines and slopes, also cultivated in gardens; near sea level to 600 m. Guangdong, Guangxi, SE Yunnan [Vietnam].
  • Photo: 06/21/2009, South China Botanical Garden, Guangdong
Pseudostems 1--2 m. Petiole 30--50 cm, narrowly winged; leaf blade adaxially yellow-green, abaxially light yellow-green and not pruinose, oblong, 1.8--2.2 m × 70--80 cm, base rounded, noticeably asymmetric. Inflorescence erect; rachis glabrous. Bracts adaxially pink, abaxially scarlet and conspicuously wrinkled. Flowers 6 per bract, in 1 row. Tepals of female flowers yellow; outer lobes of compound tepal cornered; free tepal equaling compound tepal, apex acute, finely toothed. Berries obliquely pendulous on rachis, gray-white, straight, 10--12 × ca. 4 cm, not angled; stalk 3--3.5 cm. Seeds numerous. Fl. Sep--Nov. 2 n = 20. (Flora of China)

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