The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Musella lasiocarpa
Also called Golden Lotus Banana, Chinese Yellow Banana
In Singapore: Chinese Dwarf Banana, Golden Lotus Banana, 地涌金莲 (Grown in Singapore)
Musella lasiocarpa is a hardy-leaved relative of bananas and the sole species in its genus, grown for its striking yellow, lotus-like pseudostems that appear in the second year. It needs a sheltered spot and frost protection in cold areas.
Musella lasiocarpa (syn. Musa lasiocarpa), commonly known as Chinese dwarf banana, golden lotus banana or Chinese yellow banana, is the sole species in the genus Musella. It is thus a close relative of bananas, and also a member of the family Musaceae.
Under its synonym Musa lasiocarpa, this plant has won the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. It can be grown outside, but requires protection from freezing temperatures.
The plant is native to Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan Provinces in China, and Vietnam, where it grows high in the mountains to altitudes of over 2,000 m (6,600 ft).
[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 Musella lasiocarpa 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.
