banana, Musa acuminata

Bananas hardly need an introduction. They're from southeast Asia, and have been in cultivation for at least 10000 years. They have fed all sorts of creatures for far longer than that. What you see here are the actual flowers, up at the base of the bracts on those large pendulous flower heads we've all seen in conservatories. They've now spread to the wild through the tropics, including Florida. Hidden Lake Gardens, Lenawee County MI, 12/30/15.