Musa balbisiana ‘Black Thai’ at 88″ on 8-4-12, #113-3.

Musaceae Juss.

The plant family Musaceae was named and described as such by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in Genera Plantarum in 1789.

As of 12-21-23 when this page was last updated, Plants of the World Online lists 3 accepted genera in this family of bananas. The genus Ensete contains 7 species, the Musa genus contains 83 species, and the genus Musella contains only one species. I have grown four and you can click on their names under their photos to go to their own pages.

For more information about this family of plants, please click on the links below. The links take you directly to the information about the family.

PLANTS OF THE WORLD ONLINE
WIKIPEDIA

‘Williams Hybrid’ Banana at 68″ tall on 8-4-12, #113-6.

I bought this ‘Williams Hybrid’ Banana in 2009 from Wellspring Gardens while living at the mansion in Mississippi. It grew to 68″ tall by the end of the summer in 2012.

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Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ on 7-19-12, #111-9.

I bought this Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’ (Red Abyssinian Banana) from Wellspring Gardens in 2012 as a starter plant while living in Mississippi. It was very small but did very well over the summer.

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Musa balbisiana ‘Black Thai’ at 88″ on 8-4-12, #113-3.

A good friend of mine and fellow plant collector gave me this Musa balbisiana ‘Black Thai’ in the fall of 2011. He had two he wanted me to overwinter in my sunroom and he said I could have one. SO, I happily agreed. By August 4 in 2012 it had grown to 88″ tall! I told my friend how tall it had grown and he just laughed… He always put his in the ground and told me his was about 20′ tall… I went to see and he was right. Live and learn… Photos of his plant are on this plant’s page…

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‘Ice Cream’ Hybrid Banana at 41 inches tall on 9-2-11, #76-1.

This ‘Blue Java’/’Ice Cream’ Hybrid Banana was another plant I bought from Wellspring Gardens in 2009. We had a few ups and downs…

I really enjoyed the bananas and were great fun to watch grow. I gave them all away when I moved from Mississippi back to the family farm in west-central Missouri in February 2013. I haven’t tried growing any here yet although I do see a few here and there…