Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: Scarlet Banana

Not sure if this is a new species in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo, or not, but I don't remember seeing it before. Taken on 9 April 2013. "Musa coccinea, commonly known as scarlet banana or red-flowering banana, is a bat-pollinated plant in the banana and plantain family native to tropical China (in Guangdong, Guangxi, and southeastern Yunnan) and Vietnam. 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." From Wikipedia. "Not all banana or plantain plants (Musa spp.) are grown for their edible fruits. The scarlet banana (Musa coccinea), sometimes called the red-flowering Thai banana or red torch banana, is an ornamental tropical perennial regarded for its showy red flower and decorative, nonedible pink fruits." From www.ehow.com/info_12125380_growing-musa-coccinea.html