Ensete lasiocarpum - Golden Lotus Banana

Ensete lasiocarpum is native to Yunnan, at high elevations, up to 2.500 m asl, with winter droughts and frosts, with some snow too!

This species is the only deciduous plant in the banana family. It can survive spells of drought and cold by loosing all leaves and resting as a bulb-like structure for months.

Ensete lasiocarpum was formerly named Musella lasiocarpa and "Musella" is still a used common name among plant lovers.

Picture of inflorescences by Frank Vincentz (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons

CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=134812