The name of our semi-hardy banana which flowered in the Medicinal Garden in July 2009 has been linked to Antonius Musa (63–14 BC), physician to the first Roman emperor, Caesar Augustus. He was the brother of Euphorbus, physician to King Juba II of Numidia after whom Euphorbia (qv) was named. Musa cured Augustus of ‘congestion of the liver’ with cold compresses, and of sciatica by beating the affected part with a stick. Augustus honoured him, exempting physicians from paying taxes, and a statue was erected in his honour near that of Aesculapius in Rome. ‘Musa’ is also the Arabic word for banana and ‘basjoo’ is a transliteration of the Japanese name for this banana, so the full name means ‘Banana banana’.

Musa basjoo in the family Musaceae is a herbaceous perennial originating in the Far East and is the hardiest of banana plants. In a partially shaded, well-drained border it produces pendant spikes of cream flowers with brown bracts and very large, attractive, bright-green leaves which are prone to wind damage, so a sheltered site is preferred. In severe winters the plant may die back completely but will regrow from the base in spring. We give it a generous layer of bark mulch or Taxodium needles around the crown for protection.(Clare Beacham)

Basjoo is a transliteration of the Japanese word for banana, and Musa is simiolarly a translteration of the Arabic word for banana

While bananas are rich in protein and potassium, a staple food in the tropics, Musa basjoo produces no edible fruit. The main banana of commerce was M. acuminata ‘Cavendish’ a sterile, seedless, triploid cultivar, which is in danger of being wiped out by a Fusarium fungus in Asia. The search is on for equivalent cultivars that would be resistant to Fusarium.