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Musa coccinea
Also called Okinawa Torch, Red Flowering Banana, Red Flowering Thai Banana, Red Torch Banana
In Singapore: Scarlet Banana, Red flowering Thai banana, Flowering Banana, Red Banana, 红蕉, 红花芭蕉, 美人芭蕉 (Cultivated in Singapore)
Musa coccinea is a species of banana grown mainly for its striking red flower bracts and yellow flowers, which bloom in erect spirals. It is an evergreen perennial that needs warm conditions and protection from frost.
Musa coccinea, commonly known as scarlet banana or red-flowering banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana and plantain family Musaceae, native to tropical China (in Guangdong, Guangxi, and southeastern Yunnan) and Vietnam. It is a bat-pollinated evergreen perennial, placed in section Callimusa (now including the former section Australimusa), having a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 20.
The flower cluster is more rounded than in the related species M. beccarii. It is made up of erect spirals of red bracts which enclose tubular yellow flowers. The inedible fruits are orange, only about 2 cm (0.8 in) long, and contain seeds. The species is cultivated for its ornamental value, being grown, for example, along with heliconias in commercial farms in Hawaii. It does not tolerate temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F), so in temperate zones requires protection during the winter months.
Edible banana · Musa ×alinsanaya · Bulada Banana · Banana · Japanese Banana · Pisang Tajak · Giant Highland Banana · Flowering Banana · Laterite Banana · Javanese Wild Banana · Abacá · Fe'i banana
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Musa coccinea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
