Snow Banana

Ensete Glaucum

Ensete Glaucum is an outstanding but little-known banana also known as Musa Nepalensis and Ensete Giganteum, suggesting the plants large size and is synonymous to the legendary Snow Banana Ensete Wilsonii. It grows in China (Yunnan at a height of around 2600-8800ft !!!), Nepal, India, Burma, Thailand and can be seen sometimes in Tibet, Indonesia, Malaysia and Papua New Guinea. Ensete Glaucum developes a thick, almost waxlike single trunk with a blue hue with large and again blueish leaves up to (and sometimes exceeding) 10 feet long !! When its in its natural habitat and reaches flowering size, the flowers are stupendously beautiful, like a downward facing water-lily. The fruits are about 5 inches long, filled with large black seeds with very little pulp. It is non-suckering and so after the fruit ripens the whole plant dies down and a new generation originates from the seeds.

It''s an extremely rapid grower and thus needs a good and regular supply of fertiliser and copious amounts water and is best planted in a rich organic soil. In colder climates it could be hardy enough to survive winters outdoors but would certainly need some form of protection if it is to survive our British winters (see our article on "overwintering your banana")