Ravenala madagascariensis

[Edo]

Anybody have any info about Ravenala madagascariensis aka Travelers Tree, how tall can be in cultivation, how hardy it is, and anybody any pics?

Thanks,
Edo

[bobbyd44]

havnt a clue but its a very nice looking palm

[Edo]

Yup, its indeed, but its not quite a "palm" either, actually its closer to the bananas, thaen to palms.
It says that this tree can be grown only in place where some kind of monkeys makes pollination

[bobbyd44]

well monkeys are pretty clever..

[Mark]

Hi Edo. There were lots of them in the hotel grounds in the Dominican Rep. Rangeing from Short ones to full sized in flower.

They are also pollenated by Birds feet when they land on the huge flowers and walk accross them. The seeds are bright blue as well.

And another useless fact. They all grow in the same direction ( so lost travellers know which way to go) and each leaf axel holds water to drink from .....if you want to climb that high.

There are pretty easy to germinate and look just like young Strelitiza when young .
Nowhere near Hardy though

[simon]

They are well known for being copiously planted around the famous Raffles Hotel in Singapore.

[Devonian Jungle]

Strelitzia nicolai looks similar, and is marginally hardy in some areas of the UK. The leaves get frost burn at -2C, and the plant dies back at -3/4 C. It hasn't really been experimented with that much. I'm not sure what your winter temperatures are in Sarajevo, If I want to know how hardy a plant is, I just look it up on Dave's Garden - http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/2466//

[keith]

Hi Ebo,

They are related to Strelitzias and grow in tropical regions. I've had one for about 3 years now, but only goes outside during summer. They say that they grow on an East/West orientation and as previously stated, hold drinkable water in their leaves hence the name travellers palm. (although not a palm)

I would doubt that you could grow one outside all year but I'm not sure of what lows you get there.

Keith

[Edo]

Thank you people for the pictures and info,
its really interesting tree specie, and ill get some of seeds/suckers sooner or later.

About Sarajevo, here you have link to wiki, but is a way too cold (for this particular sort of travelers tree) to start growing right here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarajevo

Edo

[Troppoz]

Edo Ravenala is very tropical in its requirements and I dont think you would have a snowballs chance of growing one anywhere in Europe, let alone Sarajevo. Maybe the very southern part of Spain or Portugal could be possible but here in Australia they wont even grow in Sydney or Perth which are warmer than anywhere in Europe. You would be better of with Strelitzea nicolai as has been suggested.

They originate from Madagascar, where there are no monkeys to be found, only lemurs. Mine is pollinated by fruit bats but birds also frequent the flowers which drip copious amounts of nectar... My 30 year old plant has little banana like fruit on it right now but its up way to high for me to collect and there is no way I'm shimmying up there to pick them...

As for the story about them growing only in east-west alignment, totally false unfortunately... They will grow in any orientation, mine actually points north-south...

Here is a pic of mine with the little bananas...

Sean

[pickapalm]

i bought 50 seeds this year, any idea how big they would get by autum?

rob

[Edo]

There are no monkeys? Wow!?
I had an idea that those lemur things are monkeys too, ive just check them and they are quite more like squirrels/chimpmanks.
But, anyways its quite amazing that those lemurs makes pollination.

You have pretty cool weather down there, cos your garden is something that id cross Himalaya for.
Pickpalm,
I think that those grows really fast(like almost all tropical plants), and it can be pretty tall until late autumn (i think).

Sean, in which city do you live, in Australia?

Edo

[Troppoz]

Edo I live in Darwin in the far north only 12 degrees south of the equator. Climate is monsoonal and very similiar to Bangkok. We have a dry season and a wet season and temps above 30c most of the time.

[Edo]

Holly cow! 30 c all the time, all year round.
Thats pretty cool, i must visit that place once.

Anyways, how do you going with those huge fires, forest combustions?
What kind of trees are causing that fire( i mean, i know theres some psychopaths that starts it), but what i wanna tell is that you just can do it with deciduous trees, even on the summer. At least here.
I mean its such a shame to see all those trees going simply in ash, and you cant do nothing about it.
Also, many people looses lives...

Edo

[Troppoz]

Edo most of the fires were started by lightning strikes - it turns out that only a few have been the result of arson.

Australia is the most flammable continent because of the Eucalyptus trees and our hot dry climate. Eucalypts are fire adapted and actually benefit from regular burning - they can even explode into flame when all of the oils vapourise and then ignite. In the lead up to the fires the affected areas where having temps up to 46c and tinder dry with a lot of undergrowth - a recipe for disaster.

Fortunately for me here in the tropics we dont have those kind of bushfires, only small cool grass fires really, but in the temperate parts of the countries they have massive fires that burn right into the crown of the trees - apparently the flames from some fires were reaching 8 stories high!!! Cars melted in the heat...