A family in Pursat town’s Svay At commune is enjoying good luck and brisk business thanks to the figurative fruits of a magic banana tree they found on their property, one member said yesterday.

Banana trees typically produce only one bunch of bananas and a single flower, but Chan Reth, 58, said that her rare six-flowered banana tree had brought her family unusually good luck – a claim that prompted veneration in some, and scepticism in others.

“Last week, my husband told me that he saw a strange banana tree, and then I asked him to dig it up and plant it in a flower pot to keep in front of the house in order to easily take care of it, and for other people to see,” Reth said.

“I did not dream about anything before I saw this magic banana tree, but after I got it I dreamed about something, and then I tried to play the lottery, which I had never played at all in my life.

“I won 500,000 riel [about $125],” she continued, adding that “business is better than it was before I got the magic banana tree”.

Reth maintained that she didn’t publicise her find for fear of being labelled a con artist, but said that nonetheless, some nearby villagers noticed the tree and had come to pray to it.

However, Svay At commune police chief Chorn Sophy said yesterday that only a few people had visited to venerate the tree, and that while it is villagers’ rights to believe what they want, such trees are not so uncommon.

“It is not strange for me, because I used to see this kind of banana tree several years ago in Battambang province,” he said. “But it is their individual belief. We do not prohibit it.”