About the plant
Ensete ventricosum (Enset) is native to Ethiopia, and is a valuable staple across southern Ethiopia where it feeds an estimated 20 million people.
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Least concern
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Animal foodPlant is used as fodder to feed farm animals
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Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex
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Crop wild relativeThis wild plant is a relative of a domesticated food plant
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Human foodPlant supplies food for humans
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MaterialPlant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber
Facts
- Grows to 6–12m tall
- Seeds probably dispersed by monkeys or birds
- Striking purple midrib in some forms
- Large decorative leaves

© Jeff Eden/RBG Kew

© James Borrell/RBG Kew

© James Borrell/RBG Kew

© James Borrell/RBG Kew

By J Brew via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0

Oil painting by Marianne North, no 516
Feeding 20 million people
While it resembles its Asian cousin (the banana) E. ventricosum is not cultivated for its fruits, but rather for its vegetative parts.
It’s typically grown in smallholdings with other crops providing year-round food and balanced nutrition. Farmers report that 15 plants can feed a family of five for a whole year and it supports among the highest population densities in Africa.
-
Least concern
The International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of the world’s species. The ongoing mission is to evaluate every plant species in the world.
IUCN Red List Status:
Not yet evaluatedData deficientLeast concernNear threatenedVulnerableEndangeredCritically endangeredExtinct in the wildExtinct -
Animal foodPlant is used as fodder to feed farm animals
-
Banked in the MSBSeeds from this plant have been banked in Kew’s Millennium Seed Bank, at Wakehurst in Sussex
-
Crop wild relativeThis wild plant is a relative of a domesticated food plant
-
Human foodPlant supplies food for humans
-
MaterialPlant provides materials for manufacturing either fibre or timber