...
| Banana | |
|---|---|
| Family: | Musaceae |
| Genus: | Musa |
What is the flowering banana?
Musa ornata: Commonly referred to as the flowering banana, this species is mostly grown for its ornamental value; its small fruit is not typically eaten.
How tall is a banana tree?
Banana Tree Varieties. There are roughly 70 species and even more varieties of banana trees, including: Musa acuminata: This species reaches around 12 to 20 feet tall and is often grown for its ornamental foliage thanks to its paddle-shaped leaves that can reach around 6 to 10 inches long.
How many gals of pots do banana trees need?
Potting and Repotting Banana Trees. Banana trees can grow in containers, but they generally will need at least a 15-gallon pot at minimum for optimal growth. Ensure that the pot has drainage holes, and use a loose, organically rich potting mix.
How long does it take for a banana tree to grow?
Before the banana tree fruits, prune it so there is only one main stem. After it has been growing for six to eight months, leave one sucker (small shoot at the base of the stem). This plant will replace the main stem in the next growing season. After the fruit is removed, cut the main stem down to 2.5 feet.
What is a spruce tree?
The Spruce / Phoebe Cheong. There are dozens of species and varieties of banana and plantain trees ( Musa spp. ). While these tropical fruiting plants are commonly referred to as trees, they’re technically huge herbaceous plants, meaning they don’t have a woody stem.
How to propagate bananas?
The best method of propagation is division. To divide banana plants, separate the suckers from the rhizome (horizontal underground stem) using a sharp spade. Before you do this, wait until the suckers are at least 3 feet tall and have their own roots. Once you separate a sucker from the parent plant, allow the surface of the rhizome section to dry for a day or so. At this point, it will be ready for replanting in any appropriate location.
What pests rot bananas?
Nematodes: This is the banana tree's most common pest that will rot the plant and fruit.
How tall are banana plants?
The banana plant is a gigantic herb that springs from an underground stem, or rhizome, to form a false trunk 3–6 metres (10–20 feet) high. This trunk is composed of the basal portions of leaf sheaths and is crowned with a rosette of 10 to 20 oblong to elliptic leaves that sometimes attain a length of 3–3.5 metres (10–11.5 feet) and a breadth of 65 cm (26 inches). A large flower spike, carrying numerous yellowish flowers protected by large purple-red bracts, emerges at the top of the false trunk and bends downward to become bunches of 50 to 150 individual fruits, or fingers. The individual fruits, or bananas, are grouped in clusters, or hands, of 10 to 20. After a plant has fruited, it is cut down to the ground, because each trunk produces only one bunch of fruit. The dead trunk is replaced by others in the form of suckers, or shoots, which arise from the rhizome at roughly six-month intervals. The life of a single rhizome thus continues for many years, and the weaker suckers that it sends up through the soil are periodically pruned, while the stronger ones are allowed to grow into fruit-producing plants.
Where are bananas grown?
The banana is grown in the tropics, and, though it is most widely consumed in those regions, it is valued worldwide for its flavour, nutritional value, and availability throughout the year. Cavendish, or dessert, bananas are most commonly eaten fresh, though they may be fried or mashed and chilled in pies or puddings.
Why are bananas cut down?
Each herbaceous trunk bears only one bunch of fruit and is cut down after harvest to encourage new growth from the rhizome (underground stem). A banana inflorescence in Thailand. Each purple-red bract curls, exposing the clusters of pistillate (female) flowers underneath.
What caused the Gros Michel bananas to wilt?
Richer and sweeter than the modern Cavendish, the Gros Michel fell victim to an invading soil fungus that causes Panama disease, a form of Fusarium wilt.
How long does it take for a banana plant to ripen?
Suckers and divisions of the rhizome are used as planting material; the first crop ripens within 10 to 15 months, and thereafter fruit production is more or less continuous. Frequent pruning is required to remove surplus growth and prevent crowding in a banana plantation.
Why are bananas vulnerable to diseases?
This makes bananas especially vulnerable to pests and diseases, as a novel pathogen or pest could quickly decimate a variety if it were to exploit a genetic weakness among the clones.
How much does a banana weigh?
Desirable commercial bunches of bananas consist of nine hands or more and weigh 22–65 kg (49–143 pounds). Three hundred or more such bunches may be produced annually on one acre of land and are harvested before they fully ripen on the plant.
What is the name of the banana in Indonesia?
Also Known as Musa Belle banana, Pisang Raja is a popular variety in Indonesia. It has a slightly grainy texture and sweet flavor with a thick peel. The fruit is popular in the preparation of banana pancakes, which is a famous snack in Indonesia.
What is blue banana?
Blue Java bananas have vanilla ice-cream like flavor, and are also famous as ‘Ice cream bananas.’ They have silver-blue skin that turns pale yellow when ripe. The fruit has aromatic soft and sweet flesh. Add them to smoothies or relish their distinctive taste raw!
What bananas are ripe?
1. Cavendish Bananas. These bananas are the most common variety, easily available in supermarkets in the United States. They are available in young unripe green to fully ripe, smooth yellow to riper dark yellow with brown spots. You can add them in smoothies, pancakes, or banana bread. 2.
What fruits have a pink and orange taste?
6. Red Bananas. Red bananas have red-purple skin, sweet flesh with a pink and orange tinge. Few of them are small and plump than Cavendish banana. When fully ripen, they have a cream to light pink flesh. Some of the fruits have a slight raspberry taste, and others have an earthy flavor. 7. Goldfinger Bananas.
How long is a lady finger banana?
Lady Finger. ‘Lady Finger’ bananas are 4-5 inches long, cigar-shaped sweet fruit. They have a bright yellow thin peel with dark flecks when fully ripen. The flesh is creamy and more delicious than the other common banana varieties. 4.
What is the taste of a young banana?
Also known as ‘apple bananas,’ they are stout and plump, with a thick firm peel and a light, creamy flesh. Young apple bananas have a tangy and sweet taste with a hint of apple. When the fruit ripens, they have a tart-apple aroma and a flavor of tropical profile with notes of strawberry and pineapple.
What is the most popular tropical fruit?
Bananas are the most popular tropical fruit that offers great taste and nutrition. There are around 1000 different types of bananas all over the world, and each of them comes with unique color and flavor! Here are some of the best Types of Bananas you can have! Botanical Name: Musa acuminata. USDA Zone: 4.
1 Burro Banana
Orinoco Musa or Burro banana is one of the superior varieties because of its resilience to harsh winds. Burro bananas are sometimes chunky bananas because they have a unique square shape. The fruit has a rich green peel, which turns yellow with brown spots as the fruit ripens.
2 Cavendish Banana
Musa acuminata Cavendish Subgroup or simply Cavendish banana is the banana you can find in every supermarket. Cavendish bananas replaced the Big Mike variety in popularity and mass-production because the Big Mike type was wiped out because of viral disease.
4 Gros Michel Banana
The Gros Michel banana or Big Mike variety was a widely available banana type until the 1950s. The fruit looks like Cavendish bananas with a characteristic half-moon shape and yellow fleshy peel, but the taste is significantly sweeter.
5 Lady Finger Banana
Lady Finger Bananas are called baby bananas because they are half the size of Cavendish bananas. The average size is about three inches.
6 Pisang Raja Banana
Pisang Raja banana features a thicker texture than most varieties. When Pisang raja fruit is ripe, it doesn’t have starch!
7 Praying Hands Banana
Praying hands banana got the name because of its unique appearance. Two fruits meet together at one point and resemble the look of praying hands! But, each hand contains several single bananas.
8 Goldfinger Banana
Goldfinger Banana has a distinct apple flavor. You can eat them fresh or cook them when they are green. The best way to cook Goldfinger bananas is to boil or deep-fry them!
What is the banana plant called in Kerala?
In Malayalam language, banana plant is called by ‘Vaazha’ and the banana fruit is termed as ‘Vaazha pazham’. Different varieties of bananas in terms of colour, ...
What is the lengthiest banana?
Ethapazham or Nendra pazham is the lengthiest and biggest banana variety commonly available across the state. Apart from other banana species, these can be consumed to gain weight. This vegetable-banana can be eaten and tastes different at every stage of development.
What are palayam kodan bananas used for?
Sweet and delicious ripe Palayam kodan bananas are extensively used with several breakfast dishes like Puttu or steam cakes, Upma etc. It forms an excellent combo with various payasam dishes and is served along with the traditional Kerala Sadya.
What are the different types of bananas?
Some of the names of these popular banana types in the Malayalam language are Ethapazham or Nendra Pazham, Palayam kodan, Annaan, Morris or Robusta, Poovan, Jnali Poovan, Kappa vazha (red banana), Monthan etc.
What is the best banana to use for sharkara?
Unripe bananas or plantains are used for making banana chips and Sharkara Upperi. Cleaned banana pieces are finely sliced to circular shaped pieces and it’s then deep fried in coconut oil to form Kaya varuthathu or banana chips.
What is ripe banana used for?
Ripened bananas are traditionally used in making some of the delicious snacks like Pazham pori (Vaazhakka Appam), Vaazhakka roast and Unnakai. Boiled or steamed ripe bananas are also served as a breakfast dish or evening snack.
Why is banana stem good for you?
It adds bulk to the food and is very useful for all those who wish to lose weight. The fibre content in banana stem helps to cure constipation and detoxify the body.
Overview
A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow upward in clusters n…
Description
The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure usually called a "corm". Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy with a treelike appearance, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a "false stem" or pseudostem. Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as the soil is at least 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) deep, has good dr…
Etymology
The word "banana" is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word banaana, and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese.
Taxonomy
The genus Musa was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name may be derived from Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, mauz. According to Roger Blench, the ultimate origin of musa is in the Trans–New Guinea languages, whence they were borrowed into the Austronesian languages and across Asia, via the Dravidi…
Bananas and plantains
In regions such as North America and Europe, Musa fruits offered for sale can be divided into "bananas" and "plantains" (cooking banana), based on their intended use as food. Thus the banana producer and distributor Chiquita produces publicity material for the American market which says that "a plantain is not a banana". The stated differences are that plantains are more starchy an…
Historical cultivation
The earliest domestication of bananas (Musa spp.) was from naturally occurring parthenocarpic (seedless) individuals of Musa banksii in New Guinea. These were cultivated by Papuans before the arrival of Austronesian-speakers. Numerous phytoliths of bananas have been recovered from the Kuk Swamp archaeological site and dated to around 10,000 to 6,500 BP. Foraging humans in this area bega…
Modern cultivation
All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds or triploid hybrids without seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption, as banana seeds are large and hard and spiky and liable to crack teeth. These ar…
Production and export
In 2017, world production of bananas and plantains combined was 153 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total of 27% of global production. Other major producers were the Philippines, Colombia, Indonesia, Ecuador, and Brazil.
As reported for 2013, total world exports were 20 million tonnes of bananas and 859,000 tonnes of plantains. Ecuador and the Philippines were the leading exporters with 5.4 and 3.3 million ton…