Ethiopia’s remarkable ‘wonder crop’ flowers for the first time at Kew Gardens

One of two enset – or “false bananas” – plants in London’s Kew Gardens has flowered for the first time.

Located in the temperate home, the specimen will bloom only once before wilting and dying, with a blooming period of only a few weeks or months.

This plant is an important source of nutrition for about one-fifth of Ethiopia’s population, making food from the base of the leaves and the underground stem.

It also produces the enset fruit, which looks like a small, swollen banana but is filled with large, black seeds that make them virtually inedible.

Enset plants are described as “wonder crops” because they are remarkably hardy to drought and disease.

Dr. James Borrell, the research lead in trait diversity and function at Kew, said: ‘Not many people have heard of enset from Ethiopia and it’s a shame because this truly remarkable plant is an essential source of nutrition for millions of subsistence farmers around the world. region.

‘Enset has a unique set of characteristics that sets it apart from other known crops; the main thing is that it is a perennial and can be planted and harvested at any time.

As a result, farmers can treat enset as a “green asset” to meet food shortages when other crops fail or are otherwise unavailable, much like a bank account for food.

“So it’s no surprise that Ethiopians often refer to enset as the ‘tree against hunger’.”

enset plants, Enset ventricosumare an African relative of the banana plant and reach up to 10 meters in height.

The edible part is the ‘pseudostem’ – a false stem formed by tightly packed leaf sheaths – and the ‘tuber’ – a swollen stem that grows underground.

These can be scraped into a pulp and then fermented underground for up to a year to make them the basis of a bread-like food called ‘kocho’.

During the production of kocho, a white powder called ‘bulla’ is made that can be used for dumplings and pancakes.

The roots of the plant, called amicho, can also be cooked and eaten just like a potato.

All of these edible parts mean that just 15 enset plants can feed a person for an entire year.

But it’s not just useful for food, as the leaves can be woven into baskets, mats and ropes, and the pseudostem can be used as construction material or burned for fuel.

Growing the plant can also protect other crops, such as coffee and sorghum plants, from pests and improve soil health.

Enset is also able to tolerate drought much better than other staple crops, and thus can be a lifeline for the Ethiopian people in times of extreme heat.

According to a recent study by Kewsmall farmers in the country are actively choosing to plant more enset in response to drought.

But despite its nutritional value and resilience, the tree is grown only in Ethiopia, which the researchers say is due to a combination of culture and geography.

The country is surrounded by lowlands, so this may prevent agriculture from spreading elsewhere in Africa.

In addition, an extensive amount of knowledge is required to cultivate enset, which is deeply rooted in the local cultural identity.

Unfortunately, cases of extreme heat will only become more common thanks to global warming.

A 2022 assessment of extreme weather hazards showed that climate change is making heat waves more intense and likely, and that the impact in terms of lives lost and financial costs is underestimated.

The UN warned last year that within decades they will make entire regions of the world uninhabitable.

Kew’s recent study found that enset could be grown in an area up to 12 times larger than the current one, in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

This would provide essential food security to these regions even in the worst global emissions scenarios.

The study also found that wild and domesticated enset tolerate slightly different conditions, so interbreeding could be an option to increase resilience if needed.

Enset flowers, each between 1.6 and 3.4 inches (4 and 8.5 cm) long, grow in racemes at the top of the psuedostems and are white or cream colored.

Purple “bracts,” specialized fronds, wrap around these three-foot racemes to help support them.

The two specimens arrived at Kew in 2019 when they were only 12 inches (30 cm) tall, but have since grown to several feet, creating a huge canopy.

Their exact age is not known, but the plant takes about four or five years to mature.

After the flowering specimen dies, Kew’s horticulturist will choose a healthy specimen to replace it and keep the display going.

David Cooke, Temperate House’s supervisor, said: ‘Seeing the enset now in bloom is a sombre reminder that time is drawing to a close with us, but also a testament to the great work our horticulturists and scientists are doing to increase learn about the natural world and to protect the biodiversity of this planet.’