Musella lasiocarpa Cuphea with nice branching rhizomes and

with nice branching rhizomes and an extra wide

After the flowers fade

before being moved to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Alabama in 1976

clothed to the top with long smooth green leaves

Musella lasiocarpa Cuphea with nice branching rhizomes andThis magnificent ornamental banana is more of a shrub than the typical taller banana. The stiff, thick, leathery, grey green, banana like foliage is borne atop a stalk that can eventually reach 6' in height. Instead of being prized for its fruit, Musella lasiocarpa is grown more for its flowers. Each specimen is home to large, bizarrely beautiful, yellow flowers that look like giant golden artichokes we're not making this up! For us, Musella