Ensete
Ensete ventricosum

Family: Musaceae

What it is like

A banana like plant. It grows to 6-12 m high. The lower part of the leafy false stem is swollen. Many different varieties exist. The leaves are bright green with an obvious red midrib. The leaves can be 5 m long and 0.9 m wide. The flower is a very large hanging spike. It is 2-3 m long. The flowers are cream coloured. There is a single petal in a large red bract. The fruit resemble small bananas. They are 6-8 cm long and 3 cm thick. They have a yellow skin. The seeds are pea like and fill the fruit. The seeds are black and about 6 mm across. There are 50 cultivated types.

There are 10 Ensete species.

Where it is found

It grows in tropical Africa. It does best with a temperature of 18-28°C and a relative humidity of 60-80 %. In Ethiopia it grows between 1500 and 3000 m altitude but does best between 1700 and 2450 m altitude. In Malawi it is usually on the edges of forests or in sheltered gullies. It is damaged by frost or drought. It can grow in arid places. In the Cairns Botanical Gardens. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.

Countries/locations it is found in

Africa, Angola, Asia, Australia, Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central Africa, Central America, Congo, East Africa, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Myanmar, Pacific, Philippines, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, SE Asia, South Africa, Southern Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, West Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How it is used for food

The fermented pulp (kocho) of the stem is eaten. It is used as a flour to make bread. The leaf bases and fresh corms are cut up and boiled as a vegetable. The milky white juice extract is allowed to ferment in pits lined with ensete leaves then cooked. The young flowers are eaten as a relish. The fruit are eaten only in times of food scarcity. It is the endosperm of the seeds that is eaten.

In areas with an ensete staple between 0.5-0.7 kg of kocho are eaten per person per day. This provides about 860-1400 calories. It is a staple food for 10 million people.

Edible parts

Leaves, stem, seeds, corm, flower heads, fruit, rootstock, rhizome, vegetable

How it is grown

It can be grown by seed. It is normally grown by bud suckers or shoots. To get bud suckers a 4-6 year old plant is cut off at 20-30 cm height. The central bud (which would normally grow one shoot) is removed and the hole filled with soil. The corm is then replanted into a manured pit about 5 days later. After 4-8 weeks this produces 40-200 buds. These can be separated and grown in a nursery for one year before being transplanted into the field. These plants are normally then transplanted to wider spacing after 2 then 4 years. Plants reach harvest maturity in 6-7 years. Suckers can be used for transplanting and reach maturity in 2 years. The final spacing for bud suckers is 3 m x 1.5 m. Large amounts of organic manure are often applied. Plants are harvested before the onset of flowering.

An average family cultivates 200-400 plants per year and they eat about 10-20 plants per person per year. In Ethiopia using1600 plants per hectare at a spacing of 2.5 m gave about 5000 kg per hectare of refined product.

Its other names

Local names

Abyssinian banana, Bananeira selvagem, Chizuzu, Echecha, Enset, Hovha, Ihindu, Inset, Inteembeteembe, Kitembe, Koba, Latembe, Linyimbili, Magao, Mgomba pori, Mulolo, Olek, Ol-musalala, Sasuriet, Shwe-nget-pyaw, Tambwe, Warqee, Workem

Synonyms

Ensete edule (J. F. Gmel.) Bruce ex Horan.; Ensete davyae (Stapf.) Cheesman; Ensete arnoldianum (De Wild.) Cheesman; Ensete bagshawei (Rendle & Greaves) Cheesman; Ensete buchananii (Baker) Cheesman; Ensete fecundum (Stapf) Cheesman; Ensete ruandense (De Wild.) Cheesman; Ensete rubronervatum (De Wild.) Cheesman; Ensete schweinfurthii (K. Schum. & Warb.) Cheesman; Ensete ulugurense (Warb.) Cheesman; Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman var. montbeliardii (Bois) Cufod; Ensete holstii (K. Schum.) Cheesman; Ensete laurentii (De Wild.) Cheesman; Ensete proboscideum (Oliv.) Cheesman; Musa arnoldiana De Wild.; Musa bagshawei Rendle & Greaves; Musa buchananii Baker; Musa davyae Stapf.; Musa ensete J. F. Gmel.; Musa ensete J. F. Gmel. var. montbeliardii Bois; Musa fecunda Stapf; Musa holstii K. Schum.; Musa laurentii De Wild.; Musa proboscidea Oliv.; Musa ruandensis De Wild.; Musa rubronervata De Wild.; Musa schweinfurthii K. Schum.; Musa ulugurensis Warb.; Musa ventricosa Welw.;