On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 04:33:03 +0100, Dave Poole
wrote:

On Fri, 25 Jun 2004 23:06:43 GMT, Yukinoroh
wrote:

I have bought a plant that I think is a ravenala (ravenala
madagascariensis), but now I have doubts it could be a giant [white] bird
of paradise (strelitzia nicolai). Any ideas on how to distinguish these
two?

I've grown both and very young plants (up to about 3-4 years old) can
be quite difficult to distinguish. However, Ravenala carries its
leaves in a very distinct, single plane and this tends to be obvious
quite early on it's life.
snip

I first saw a picture of R. madagascariensis in a book a couple of
years ago, and was stunned by its elegantly fanned leaves. A 'must
have', I thought. But then I saw the real thing at Eden (not far
inside the entrance to the tropical bubble, on the left), and realised
that (a) they weren't all as neatly symmetrical as my picture, (b) the
picture only showed the top of the plant and didn't show the
substantial trunk below the leaves, and (c) the whole thing would be
far to big for my conservatory, even if I could get hold of one (I see
that Chiltern do seeds). So I stick with manageable strelitzias.


--
Chris

E-mail: christopher[dot]hogg[at]virgin[dot]net