The Indian banana flowers in a completely different way than we know from native fruit trees. The coloring of the flowers in particular is unusual. That alone is a reason to plant a Indian banana in the garden. Quite apart from enjoying the delicious fruits that develop from it.

The Indian banana bears dark red, rather small flowers

ability to flower

The Indian banana is a long-lived tree. Therefore, she can take a few years to flower. If you grow an Indian banana from seed, you have to be patient for at least seven years. Grafted trees manage to form some flower buds as early as the third year.

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Indian banana blossoms appear before the leaves. But the tree is smart enough to wait out the frosts. So it rarely happens that its flowers freeze. The tree is usually in full bloom in May. The current weather can only delay or bring forward the flowering period by a few days.

appearance of the flower

The hairy flower buds are already formed in the previous year at the ends of the newly sprouted branches. They easily survive high minus temperatures in winter. The flower itself has the following to report:

  • has 3-4 ovate sepals
  • they have a red-greenish tint
  • are hairy on the outside
  • each flower has two whorls, each with 3-4 longer petals
  • the nerve is clearly pronounced
  • they are colored crimson to rusty red
  • the petals are slightly bent outwards
  • the flower gets a bell shape
  • like the bell, it hangs upside down
  • each flower has several ovary
  • the flower stalk is about 2.5 cm long and bent downwards
  • he is fat and has red, fine hair

Unpleasant scent

Scents are not always pleasant, as the Indian banana blossoms prove. But that's on purpose. With this, these trees want to attract scavenging insects. This ensures pollination in their homeland. This is important so that a delicious fruit ripens from the flower by autumn.

These insects do not live with us. The busy bees don't seem to like the scent. That's why they rarely fly to the flowers.

tips

To increase the pollination rate, you can painstakingly pollinate the flowers with a brush.

Category:

Vegetable garden