Japanese Banana

You wouldn’t want to eat these bananas: the small yellowish-green fruits taste horrible!

The Japanese Banana (Musa basjoo) is grown for fibre which is used in textiles. Also an ornamental plant, its large decorative leaves bring a tropical feel to any display. Japanese Bananas can grow to 4.5 metres (15 ft) and produce a 2 metre (6.5 ft) long leaf every week.

In Britain, we know it as the hardiest ornamental banana we can grow.

Did you know?
Bananas aren’t trees – they are giant herbaceous plants with trunks made up from tightly wrapped leaf sheaths.
Each inflorescence produces female and then male flowers.
The female flowers occur at the top of the inflorescence, the bulbous male at the end.

Back up to: temperate house plants

On to: Michelia