In my experience growing many types of plants I have learned that knowing which botanical group a plant belongs to can help a great deal and clear up confusions. For example, by knowing what botanical group bananas belong to I would know that they are not actually a tree, and should not be cared for like a tree.
Bananas lack a central trunk, any woody tissue, and no secondary branching and therefore are not considered trees. Botanically bananas are an herb, containing one main pseudostem that dies back after fruiting.
Some of you may still be wondering what a banana actually is and how it grows. If you are a still a little confused by the fact that is isn’t a tree, and that it is an herb don’t worry. Just keep reading and it should all be clear to you.
What is a banana plant?
Bananas are technically an herb and not a tree, but this is in the the botanical definition, not the culinary one. Botanically an herb is a plant that dies back every year and does not form a woody stem. Bananas have no woody tissue at all. Even what some call a a trunk on a banana plant is not a trunk, it is a pseudostem.
The pseudostem is basically formed by the base of each banana leaf, called a sheath, wrapped by the sheath of the previous leaf. Each leaf emerging from the center of the psuedostem pushes its way through the center of the leaf sheath bundle (pseudostem) and out the top where the leaf unfurls . This forms a tight cylindrical shape that is commonly called a trunk but isn’t a trunk.
This pseudostem is mostly water and is very fleshy with no woody tissue at all. Some can be cut down with one swing of a machete. When cut you can see each sheath has a structure that is reminiscent of cardboard. With two outer faces in a crescent shape, and straight lines of tissue connecting each side with open spaces between, much like cardboard. At the same time this false trunk is very strong and can support large bunches of fruit that on some varieties can be 32 kg (70 lbs) or more.
How tall can bananas get?
Bananas can range in height from less than a meter (3 ft) to more than 12 meters (40 ft) in height, making banana plants the largest herbaceous plant, and taller than some trees.
As you can see bananas can get very tall and this may be one of the reasons for the misnomer (should I say confusion) of banana tree. The common commercial variety of banana sold in the U.S. called cavendish, has a pseudostem height around 2.5 meters (8.2 ft). Other edible varieties may grow to more than 4.5 meters (15 ft). There are many varieties of cavendish so this is not an absolute number. There are even super dwarf cavendish varieties that only grow a to about 0.6 meters (2 feet).
Even the usual commercial varieties are small compared to some wild varieties that can grow to massive sizes like Musa Ingens. It has been reported to grow up to 12 meters (40 ft) or more. Some other wild and cultivated varieties are very small and grow to only 0.6 – 1.2 meters (2 – 4 ft) in height. Like the super dwarf cavendish mentioned before, or Musa Velutina a wild banana sometimes call the pink banana.
None of these very tall or very short varieties are grown on a commercial scale for fruit production as the yield can be low, they can contain seeds, or both. A very tall banana is more difficult to harvest as well because it may require climbing or special equipment to reach the banana bunch for harvest, and very small varieties will not produce bunches of a desirable size.
What Is A Banana Bunch?
As a banana is not a tree it doesn’t even fruit like one. It does not have flowers all over its branches covering the whole tree, because it doesn’t have any branches. How does a banana fruit then? They produce what is called a bunch.
A bunch of bananas is the complete set of fruit that a banana produces on a peduncle that emerges out of the center of the banana pseudostem. The bunch is composed of 1 or more hands, which is what most people are familiar with. It is the most common way a person would see bananas at the grocery store.
A hand of bananas is what most people are familiar with and it is what most people would buy at the grocery store. If you live in a tropical area however you may see entire bunches for sale in some places. Banana hands are composed of a tightly grouped set of bananas, and each banana is called a finger.
What type of fruit is a banana?
Bananas are considered a berry botanically, which may seem strange to some people. Most people think of berries as things like blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, raspberries, but not bananas, they are much larger than those other fruits. Not all of those other fruits are actually berries though, strawberries for instance are not actually berries, but bananas are. You can read a vary interesting article about it here.
Berries are fruit formed from a single flower that has a single ovary, can contain multiple seeds, and have a fleshy endocarp. Some, like avocados have only one seed. Bananas are formed from a single flower, from one ovary, can form multiple seeds, and contain a flesh endocarp which makes them a berry.