Ensete lasiocarpum (Chinese dwarf banana, "Chiyokinren")

Japanese name: チヨウキンレン （地湧金蓮）
Scientific name: Ensete lasiocarpum

[Overview]
An evergreen perennial 60–100 cm tall, growing in mountains at elevations of 1,000–2,500 m in its native range.
What looks like a trunk is formed by the overlapping leaf sheaths at the bases of the leaf stalks, and is called a pseudostem.
The leaves are narrowly elliptic, about 50 cm long and 20 cm wide, and slightly grayish.
The inflorescence appears at the tip of the pseudostem; it is an upright, elliptic-conical shape 20–25 cm across, formed by overlapping yellow bracts.
The inflorescence usually appears in the second year after germination, and every year thereafter.
The bracts peel back one at a time from the base, and clusters of 8–10 flowers are borne facing upward.
Flowering lasts for several months.
The fruit is a false fruit 3 cm long and 2.5 cm wide, and the seeds are brown to blackish brown.

[Uses]
In its native range, the juice of the flowers and leaves is used medicinally, and the pseudostem and rhizome are used as pig feed.
It is also used to hold the soil of fields on slopes.

[Cultivation]
Propagate by dividing suckers.
It cannot overwinter outdoors in cold regions or in areas with heavy frost.
Even if the aboveground part dies back, shoots emerge in spring as long as the ground does not freeze.
It prefers sunny, well-drained, moist, fertile soil.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries.
Keep it on the dry side in winter.
It is weak against dryness, and too much moisture can also cause root rot.
Apply slow-release fertilizer in spring and autumn.
Pests include aphids and spider mites.

[Notes]
The Japanese name derives from the lotus-flower-like inflorescence that emerges from the ground.

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