IMG: What was Panzihua in China like? What conditions
does Cycas panzihuaensis grow in?
Martin: Panzihua city must be the most polluted
city on earth. It is a coal mining area with dozens of steel smelting
factories that spew waste products into the local rivers. It was
like a scene from hell! We saw bright green rivers, jet black rivers,
milky white rivers and rust red rivers and all this pollution running
straight into the Yangtze river. A yellow fog would descend on the
area as the pollution was so bad. In the middle of all this, in
the public park, there grows Cycas panzihuaensis which apparently
is one of the most numerous cycads in China. We did not see it in
the wild but we saw a large number of cultivated specimens in the
parks and gardens of Panzihua city. Superficially, from a distance,
it looks vaguely like Cycas revoluta but the leaves are more upright
and it has a thicker trunk. It is said to be extremely cold hardy
and fast growing. Some of the Chinese growers that we talked to
said it grows two feet of trunk in five years, which is astonishingly
fast for a cycad.
IMG: Musa hookeri is a relatively unknown banana.
Where does it originate and what is its climate like?
Martin: Musa hoookeri, or Musa sikkimensis as it
should now be called as this is its correct botanical name, is a
very hardy banana which grows to 2100 m. It is probably as hardy
as M. basjoo but has a different appearance with a distinctive liver
colour to the back of the leaves. It, too, grows in the Kalimpong
area. I am beginning to sound like Kalimpong is the only place we
ever go to! The reason is we know a family there who are really
keen on palms and they have done some major botanical work for us
in the hills and valleys around Kalimpong.
IMG: Do you know of other high altitude bananas
from the mountains of China?
Martin: There is another unknown banana that we
found in the Yangtse valley in China. It was growing at 2800 m,
where it gets bitterly cold in the winter, and this plant produces
edible fruit. We brought back a few corms to London and we are attempting
to grow plants from those and hope to introduce it into cultivation
in the future. There is another banana species called Ensete wilsonii
which is said to grow in north Vietnam. We have not been able to
get seed of it but are expecting some in the next few weeks. It,
too, should be very hardy.
Interview with the Editor
