It looks to me like a defect by lack of nutriens.
Simon

"Is it my imagination or do these variegated bananas look more deficient in something rather than true mutation?"

Worse, it looks like a virus.

The wonders of ebay. Lots good and as well as bad sellers. At least your not being scam by this seller.

AeAe seeds

The first looks like an actual variegation but not healthy. We grew a tray of 'Ele Ele' TC plugs and 2 came out strongly variegated, like the 'Cavendish' in the photo. They got to about 2-3ft tall and the leaves grew distorted and then they died.

The 2nd photo is a variegated Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii'. I found one of these a few years ago at a local Home Depot. It was about 4ft tall and had white, yellow, and pink variegation. Unfortuneately it died here later in the summer as E. ventricosum usually doesn't last thru our long humid summers. I was a beautiful plant with the maroon coloring and the tri-variegation.

We also grew a tray of 'African Red' plugs and some of these had variegation. They all reverted as the plants matured but I found one that has started getting some variegation again lately.

Eric
Orlando,FL z9b/10a

They both definitely look variegated to me. I also have a variegated ensete ventricosum, by chance. It looks very similar to the one in the picture. Mine burns horribly in full sun, where it is now. The first banana, the var. DC, does look pretty unhealthy. Here's a picture of one of the leaves from my variegated ensete ventricosum from last year. It got a bit more shade then, and was much healthier.

{{gwi:417618}}