You ’ve likely learn the condition " banana tree diagram " if the flora that produces bananas ( Musa spp . ) is discussed . You most surely would not hear , " Did you see thatbanana herbgrowing over there ? "
The Banana Is an Herb
But , yes : * * The banana is an herb ; it ’s not a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree or a shrub . * * It ’s an herb with a compact , juicy trunk that can reach a height of 50 feet , although most varieties range from 10 to 40 feet , calculate on the cultivar .
Does a Banana Grow on a Tree?
Nope . That beloved yield ubiquitous in every U.S. lunchbox mature on an enormous stem of the large herb in the earth . The stem , which is full of H2O and very fleshy , is compose of tightly packed leaves .
you could see this if you could watch the stem unfurl at the top to see its leaves , sometimes shout out " cigar leaves " before they in full open to bring forth its giant , voluptuous , leafy crown . These leaves do the massive work of photosynthesis for this very large plant .
Can You Plant Banana From Seed?
Growers do not employ a banana ’s seeds to propagate banana . The seeds are no longer produced in the varieties crop for most uses , although varieties of tempestuous bananas ( Musa balbisiana ) do have seeds .
The best and comfortable fashion to propagate a new banana tree plant is to let nature do it for you : employ the suckers the plant produces at its nucleotide . These will be clones of the mother industrial plant and have all its characteristic .
commonly , you will see a stand of bananas , rather than a exclusive banana industrial plant . These are the suckers bring about that have been allow for to acquire to full size . Once one plant has flowered and the banana tree stalk has been harvested , that plant dies back — at which peak you could cut it down to the ground , making more room for the other suckers to reach maturity .
About the Banana Fruit
While the banana plant is actually an herb , its fruit is really a berry , and it partake in traits with cucumber vine , Cucurbita pepo and alligator pear , which are also berry — while strawberry and raspberries are not berry at all . Crazy , I know !
The understanding botanists define some fruit as Berry is quite expert , and even they often fit that the definition could be clarify and improved . However , a berry must have two or more semen and must uprise from a single peak develop from a unmarried ovary .
In any case , the yield , or berry , develops from the banana tree ’s flowering stalk . As it matures , it develops into cluster of fruit composed of tier up , called " hands , " each of which may have 20 fruits each . There may be 3 to 20 tier up on a single crew , which can result in a huge , hanging social system that can librate from 65 to more than 100 pounds .
What you buy at the grocery store is a portion of a hand , which harvester have broken or cut off the bunch to become a manageable size to take home to have a few banana to mature on the counter .
