Musa rosacea Jacq.

Horticultural & Botanical History

‘There is some difference in the representation of this plant in Jacquin’s work from the one before us, but we really believe the apparent difference arises principally from the upper portion of Jacquin’s plant being withered before opening.  An accident prevented our being able to examine the subject so accurately as we wished.  The species has been called rosacea by Jacquin, not from the colour of the spathe, but from the form into which the valves of the spathe expand at the upper withered end in his sample.  We do not believe that Spadix erectus and Spadix nutans are available marks of distinction.  Introduced from the Mauritius by Sir Joseph Banks in 1805.  Drawn at the Bayswater collection belonging to Comtesse des Vandes, where the plant flowered in the winter.’  [BR f.706/1823].  Jacquin Sch. iv p.22 pl.445. 

History at Camden Park

Musa rosacea was included in a consignment of plants sent from Kew by John Bidwill in November 1843.  It seems likely that these plants were forwarded to William Macarthur at Camden but there is no direct evidence of this plant being grown there.  It is unlikely to have flourished in the climate of Camden. 

Notes