Red Banana Plant Growing Strange Bud 4 Feet Up? It's an Inflorescence—Fruit Will Form, Then Plant Dies

2-year-old red banana has a dense, 8"x4" bud-like growth 4 ft up the trunk (not at top). No leaves since Feb. Cold winter. Owner fears it's fruit (thought non-fruiting) and will kill plant.

It Is an Inflorescence (Flower Stalk)

Emerging from mid-trunk suggests the top was damaged (cold/wind), forcing a side bloom. It will elongate like a corn ear, turn burgundy, and produce bananas.

Life Cycle

After fruiting (several months), that trunk dies. But pups at the base will continue the clump. Bananas are perpetual via rhizomes.

What to Do

Let it develop. Harvest bunch when plump but green, hang to ripen. The mother trunk will decline; pups take over.