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Ensete ventricosum

Ensete ventricosum, Musaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called Abyssinian banana.

Ensete ventricosum (Ensete ventricosum), the whole plant.
KATHERINE WAGNER-REISS, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Not assessed for cats. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for dogs. This plant is not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.
  • Not assessed for people. RHS publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Light
Full sun, Partial shade
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Water
Well-drained
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Temperature

How cold this tolerates, not what it prefers. No source read for this site publishes a preferred range for a plant indoors.

H2 — 1–5°C 1–5 °C
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Loam, Sand; pH Acid or Alkaline or Neutral
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Not on the ASPCA list. That is not a finding of safety.
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No statement of harm to people is published for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Propagation
Grow from seed; germination is irregular.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pruning
Take off dead leaves; do not cut below each leaf blade's base.
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Pests and diseases
Can be troubled by aphids and glasshouse red spider mite. Diseases: usually none.
RHS · read 13 September 2026

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Close view of Ensete ventricosum (Ensete ventricosum) foliage.
Close upTylwyth Eldar, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Ensete ventricosum, commonly known as enset or ensete, Ethiopian banana, Abyssinian banana, pseudo-banana, false banana and wild banana, is a species of flowering plant in the banana family Musaceae. The only country where the domesticated form of the plant is cultivated is Ethiopia, where it provides the staple food for approximately 20 million people. The name Ensete ventricosum was first published in the Kew Bulletin 1947, p. 101. Its synonyms include Musa arnoldiana De Wild., Musa ventricosa Welw. and Musa ensete J. F. Gmelin. In its wild form, it is native to the eastern edge of the Great African Plateau, extending northwards from South Africa through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania to Ethiopia, and west to the Congo, being found in high-rainfall forests on mountains, and along forested ravines and streams.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Ethiopia to Northern Prov.
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
E Tropical Africa
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Climate
seasonally dry tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
herbaceous tree
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Tufted (evergreen)
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 2.5-4 metres; spread 2.5-4 metres after 10–20 years
RHS · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers red in summer; white in summer
RHS · read 13 September 2026

More of the Musaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.