Musa coccinea

Native to southern China, from southeastern Yunnan to Guangdong, and Vietnam, this perennial herb grows in secondary rainforest. Closely spaced suckers form dense clumps of leafy shoots. Its upright inflorescences have scarlet bracts with yellow tips and inward-curving edges; these bracts remain attached as flowering progresses. Small, oblong fruits ripen orange-yellow with a waxy bloom and contain white pulp and black seeds. It is endangered in the wild as its native habitat disappears. Photographed in Salento, Colombia.