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Musa sikkimensis Darjeeling Banana Botanical nomenclature: Musa sikkimensis Darjeeling Banana Wow! This large banana species sports a massive pseudostem to 4.5 m (14 ft.) tall and 45 cm (18 in.) in diameter, which is tinged with red. Its new leaves and leaf midribs are purple, and a percentage of plants even exhibit beautifully dark red mottled leaves when young. The Darjeeling Banana is very hardy to cold (i.e. in the sense of Musa basjoo), coming, as it does, from montane forests up to 2000 m (6000 ft.) in the Himalayas of Northeast India. First trials outdoors in the U.S., Britain, Germany, and Switzerland have shown an excellent resistance to cold and frost. Like all bananas, it is extremely fast growing given rich soil and an abundance of water. The fruits have a sweetish pulp but are hard and contain a few large seeds. The Darjeeling Banana was originally introduced into cultivation and made popular by Toby Spanner and Martin Gibbons, and it now shows to live up well to the expectations that were placed in it as an ornamental for the temperate as well as the cooler tropical garden. It has more potential than any other cold tolerant Musa in cultivation today. |