Banana plants are a fleshy stemmed rosette of leaf stems rising from the ground level crown. Even though they may be as large as a tree (as much as 25 feet tall), they are actually an herbaceous, non-woody plant. Each trunk dies after fruit production, but they sucker freely, constantly sending up new babies from the root stock. Their natural habitat includes tropical forest margins and light woodlands where they get full sun to partial shade and protection from the open winds. Their homelands include NE India and Bangladesh, and from SE Asia to Japan and N Australia.

The Genus Musa includes all of the edible bananas and plantains, and many smaller varieties that are used as houseplants. The genus also includes the source of a tough fiber used to make manila hemp (M. textilis).

According to the magazine "The Select Traveler", in Hawaii the banana plant is known as MAI'A. Its celery-like heart can be cooked, and green bananas are eaten like potatoes. Umbrellas, rain hats, roofs, and truce flags are (or have been) made from banana leaves, and the inner side of the fruit peel can be wrapped around a cut like a bandage because of its antibiotic properties.

For individual species information, see below.

 

Kingdom:  Plantae  Subkingdom:  Tracheophyta (Vascular Plants)  Superdivision:  Spermatophyta (Seed Plants)  Division:  Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)  Class:  Liliopsida (Monocotyledons)  Subclass:  Zingiberidae  Order:  Zingiberales  Family:  Musaceae (Banana Family)   Genus:  Musa (Banana) ---YOU ARE HERE  Species:  M. acuminata (Edible Banana)  Species:  M. arnoldiana see M. ensete below  Species:  M. basjoo syn. M. japonica (Japanese Cold-Hardy Banana)  Species:  M. balbisiana  Species:  M. cavendishii Actually a dwarf variety of M. acuminata  Species:  M. ensete see Ensete ventricosum (Abyssinian Banana)  Species:  M. nana Another name for the Cavendish M. acuminata  Species:  M. ornata (Flowering Banana)  Species:  M. × paradisiaca (French Plantain)  Species:  M. rosacea (Indian Red Banana)  Species:  M. schizocarpa  Species:  M. textilis (Manila Hemp)  Species:  M. troglodytarum (Fe'i Banana)  Species:  M. uranoscopus syn. M. coccinea (Scarlet Banana)  Species:  M. velutina (Hairy Banana)

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Bibliography

---Brickell, Cristopher and Judith D. Zuk, 1997, The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, New York: DK Publishing, Inc., ISBN 0-7894-1943-2
---Jenkins, Dorothy H., 1975, The Encyclopedia of House Plants, New York: Bantam Books
---McDonald, Elvin, 1963, The World Book of House Plants, Popular Library
---Rodale, J.I., 1965, The Encyclodedia of Organic Gardening, Emmaus, Pennsylvania: Rodale Books
---Turner, R.G. Jr., 2001, Botanica, Barnes & Noble, Inc. and Random House Australia Pty Ltd, B&N ISBN 0760716420, ISBN 1566491754
---"The Select Traveler" - This was an unidentified clipping from The Select Traveler magazine, sent to me by a friend.

Botanica

Rodale's All New Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening

American Horticulture Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

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