There are hundreds of edible banana varieties; in Indonesia alone there are over 230 recorded, but the bananas of commerce are far fewer, due to considerations of quality, aesthetic appeal, flavor and so on. The two species banana that are considered to be the parents of most of the edible seedless bananas eaten by man are Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.
The banana is such a pan-tropical that it grows everywhere man has planted it. It is even said that the slaves in the West Indies for whom the breadfruit was painfully collected by Captain Bligh, declined to eat it because they preferred bananas.
Species bananas are more interesting botanically, even though they are tasteless or full of seeds. Pictured here are three of the more spectacular varieties. The banana with the incredibly long fruiting stem is called the 1000 banana plant in Indonesia and Malaysia. Even if the actual number of bananas does not reach 1000, the bunch is a marvel of nature: It is sometimes so long and the fruits so numerous that the bunch reaches the ground.
The banana pictured on the top left is Musa velutina. The pretty red fruits actually peel themselves from the base of the fruit up, to entice a potential customer to eat them and thereby spread the seeds. The banana (opposite middle left) with the striking red flowers, Musa coccinea, is purely ornamental as its fruits are small and hard.
In addition to being eaten fresh, bananas may be cooked, chipped, made into alcoholic drinks or processed into starch. The leaves are used to wrap foods or to line utensils in which food is prepared. The flowers of the inflorescence and the center of the stem are also edible.
Cordyline
Cordyline terminalis
Botanical family: Dracaenaceae
Cultivated for their beautiful leaves, cordylines are native to Australasia, the Pacific Islands and tropical America. The center for cordyline development is Hawaii where it is known as the ti plant. In Asia, collectors look to Thailand.
Most cultivated cordylines have long leaves that vary in width and length. They grow in a roseate form at the top of a stem that is marked all the way up the stem by the scars of the leaf sheaths. Some newer hybrids have leaves twisted like corkscrews, and many other cultivars have broad leaves or leaves that are almost cup-shaped. In all cordylines, the flowers are inconspicuous. The leaves come in all colors except blue, black, pure yellow, pink or other delicate colors. There are many variations on the rose-purple color, and there is a striped green and white form.
The landscaping style created by Roberto Burle Marx, now popular in public landscaping all over the tropics, has made the cordyline an essential element. Planted in blocks of a single color, they are striking and easy to maintain.
Codiaeum
Codiaeum variegatum
Botanical family: Euphorbiaceae
Codiaeum are found in almost all tropical gardens, parks, roadside plantings, Botanic Gardens and cemeteries. They are popularly and inaccurately called 'crotons'. They are almost trouble free and are very colorful ornamentals. The flowers are inconspicuous, but the shiny leaves come in innumerable variations or color, shape, size and rorm. The forms commonly seen are cultivated varieties of plainer, duller, single color species now rarely seen. As they are so variable, the only way to ensure that a plant is the desired one is to propagate it vegetatively.
Codiaeum are indigenous to Malesia and the Pacific. They come in all colors except blue, black, pink and purple. There are many named varieties, and recently, Thai horticulturalists have developed dwarf varieties suitable for the pot plant culture of urban areas. Codiaeum are useful as specimen plants, hedges and as part of a general planting. The taller specimens reach about 2 m and they require full sunlight. They can give a garden a 'hot' tropical look.
Aroids
Alocasia macrorrhizos; Amorphophallus paeoniifolius;Caladium x. hortulanum; Monstera deliciosa; Pistia stratiotes
Botanical family: Araceae
Araceae are a large botanical family classified at present into 2,500 species. The plants pictured here belong to a tiny part of them. They do not resemble each other in any way noticeable to a casual observer, but they illustrate the vast range of tropical aroids that exist.
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