The Abbysinian Banana a relative of the edible banana, family Musaceae, is found in the frost-free areas of South Africa. It is a worthy landscaping plant. Its shape, texture, large head of banana-like leaves and attention-getting red midribs, produce a exuberant, tropical effect. It bears inedible fruit that resemble bananas but edible young flower shoots.

The plant grows between 6 and 12 m high and will rarely send suckers from the base. Leaves are simple, large with a dense, rose-pink midvein and many spirally formatted parallel nerves extending to the margin. The flowers form large, showy bunches or spikes 2 to 3 m in length. Male flowers usually occur at the top and the female or bisexual flowers lower.

The banana-like fruits have a yellow skin with black stains and contain a row of pea-sized, tough, black seeds. This fruit bearing plant only blossoms and bears fruit once and then it dies. Although the fruit isn't edible (or is only consumed in times of scarcity), the young inflorescence are edible and are consumed when cooked as is the flesh in the pseudostems and rootstock.

The species is also known as Wild banana and can be propagated easily by seed. It needs warmth, lots of water and productive soil to grow to its full potential. Abbysinian Banana,ensete ventricosum, can't endure heavy frost.

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