Most of these species are large tropical evergreen perennials, mainly from lowland areas with high temperature and humidity.

The leaves can grow to be 6 ft (1.8 m) long, 14 inches (360 mm) wide and can be used for tropical cut flower arrangements.

[8] Musa ornata has a yellow-orange inflorescence whose male and female flowers both tend to be 3-5 per bract in a single row, varying up to about 7 per cluster.

Musa ornata is native to south-east Asia and commonly found in Bangladesh, Burma, and India.

The plant is relatively tolerant and was found in Mauritius (off the coast of Madagascar) before 1805 and must have begun to travel several years before it was botanically described in 1824 on Indian banana plantations.

Numerous parts of Mexico have also naturalized the plant, although the seedlings are often offered commercially under a different name (Musa violacea).