Musa coccinea
Musa coccinea
Musa coccinea, commonly known as scarlet banana or red-flowering banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana and plantain family Musaceae, native to tropical China (in Guangdong, Guangxi, and southeastern Yunnan) and Vietnam. It is a bat-pollinated evergreen perennial, placed in section Callimusa (now including the former section Australimusa), having a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 20. 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. The inedible fruits are orange, only
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Plátano guineo - Colicero (Musa coccinea) (14534127560)Berthe Hoola van Nooten02
Scarlet Banana (Musa coccinea) 1
Musa coccinea 11zz
Scarlet Banana (Musa coccinea)
Plátano guineo - Colicero (Musa coccinea) (14485499069)Plátano guineo - Colicero (Musa coccinea) (14534127560)Berthe Hoola van Nooten02Overview
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. The inedible fruits are orange, only about 2 cm long, and contain seeds. The species is cultivated for its ornamental value, being grown, for example, along with heliconias in commercial farms in Hawaii. It does not tolerate temperatures below 10 C, so in temperate zones requires protection during the winter months. In the UK it has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Life cycle
From seed to productSucker propagation
Propagated by **suckers**: detach 30–40 cm vigorous suckers with their own roots and plant where drainage is good.
Rooting
Suckers root and produce new leaves after 2–3 weeks.
Growth & flowering
The plant blooms with **orange-red flowers on a thick spike, year-round**; pollination is by insects and wind.
Maturity & harvest
After flowering the plant sets fruit and seed; **red ripe fruits harvested 8–12 months after planting**.
Distribution & origin
Share of recorded occurrences by region- Brazil19%
- Costa Rica16%
- Colombia10%
- Vietnam9%
- China9%
- Ecuador4%
- Panama3%
- Other regions30%
References
- 1Musa coccinea — Wikipedia — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), 2026
- 2RHS Plantfinder - ''Musa coccinea'' — Wikipedia,
- 3AGM Plants - Ornamental — Royal Horticultural Society, 2017
- 4The evolution of bat pollination: a phylogenetic perspective — Annals of Botany, 2009
- 5GBIF — occurrence records of Musa coccinea — GBIF, 2026
- 6IUCN Red List — Musa coccinea — IUCN, 2024
- 7Hình ảnh — Wikimedia Commons (6 ảnh, giấy phép CC/PD) — Wikimedia Commons, 2026