It belongs to the banana family... But actually, it's just grass, nothing more ... Only tropical... That's why the fruits are so big .... Can you imagine our herbs in the middle lane? You can also eat them, the tops .... And very tasty, I can assure you... It's just a little... :))))

banana family... the closest relatives of the Shkurkins ....

BANANA (Musa), a genus of large tropical perennial herbs of the banana family (Musaceae), numbering approx. 300 species and taxa of a lower rank, a number of which are widely bred for edible berry-like fruits, reaching a length of 20 cm. When mature, the fruits are covered with a thick yellow peel with brown spots. Their flesh is creamy, easy to digest, rich in carbohydrates and contains relatively many vitamins A, B and C.

To the family "below the belt" =)))

Scientific classification Kingdom: Plants Department: Angiosperms Class: Monocotyledonous Order: Ginger Family: Banana Genus: Banana Banana (lat. Musa) is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Banana family, whose homeland is the tropics of Southeast Asia (SEA) and, in particular, Malay archipelago. Bananas are also called the fruits of these plants, eaten. At present, various varieties of the sterile triploid cultigen Musa × paradisiaca (an artificial species not found in wild nature ), derived from some of these plants, are widely cultivated in tropical countries and in many of them constitute a major export share. The banana is the fourth largest cultivated crop in the world, behind only rice, wheat and corn. The genus unites over 40 species, distributed mainly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The northernmost species - Japanese Banana (Musa basjoo), originally from the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, is grown as an ornamental plant on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, in the Crimea and Georgia. Description Banana is a herbaceous plant with a powerful root system, a short stem that does not protrude above the ground and 6-20 leaves, the sheaths of which form a semblance of a trunk. Plant height varies from 2 to 9 m and even higher, which makes them one of the tallest (along with bamboos) grasses in the world; and it is not surprising that many mistake them for trees. Musa itinerans is considered the tallest plant of the banana genus - the height of its variety Musa itinerans var. gigantea can reach 12 m. A lot of side shoots form around the main stem, one of which subsequently replaces the previous one - this is how reproduction occurs. Roots numerous, fibrous; in noble soil they go up to 4.9 m to the side and up to 1.5 m deep. The leaves are large, soft, smooth, oblong or oval, with parallel venation; arranged in a spiral. Their vaginas are coiled into a dense, multi-layered, fleshy tube called a false stalk. As the plant grows, young leaves appear inside the bundle, and the outer ones gradually die off and fall off. Weather permitting, this process continues at a rate of approximately one leaf per week. Cultivated banana leaves are up to 275 cm long and 60 cm wide and can be completely green, green with maroon spots, or green on the upper side and crimson underneath. In strong winds or heavy rain, the leaves are easily torn along the veins - this adaptation helps plants survive in tropical climates. When the banana is ready to bloom, a long peduncle develops at the growing point of the short stem, which passes through the false stem and emerges after the leaves. Flowering occurs 8-10 months after the active growth of the plant. The inflorescence is a brush resembling an elongated lush bud of a purple or green hue, on which large female flowers are located at the base, then smaller bisexual ones, and at the end there are small male flowers. All flowers are tubular, consisting of 3 petals, 3 sepals, usually 6 stamens, one of which is underdeveloped and has no anther. Gynoecium syncarpous, consisting of 3 carpels, forming a three-chambered ovary; flowers are arranged in tiers (the so-called "hands") and contain a large number of nectar (up to 0.5 g per flower. Each layer is collected in a brush, consisting of 12-20 flowers arranged radially, and covered with fleshy, waxy to the touch covering leaves. Cultivated bananas have flowers white color, covering leaves are purple on the outside, and dark red on the inside. Once opened, the male flowers usually fall off very quickly, leaving the upper part of the inflorescence bare, with the exception of the apical unopened bud. In wild-growing species, flowering begins at night or early in the morning - in the first case, their pollination is facilitated the bats, and in the second - birds and small mammals. Cross-section of a wild fruit Fruits develop

to grassy

Description of the fruit

Bananas, known to almost every inhabitant of the planet, hit the shelves of our stores mostly from Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.

Banana is a herbaceous plant of the banana family, with a false stem and large oblong leaves arranged in a spiral. The plant is often called a palm tree for its resemblance to it.

It grows in areas with a tropical climate, but in a number of countries it is grown in greenhouse conditions. Banana begins to bloom at about the tenth month of life. The inflorescences are arranged in tiers, and the fruits that develop from them look like a hand with fingers.

According to the botanical classification, the banana fruit is a multi-seeded berry with a thick leathery shell. Depending on the variety (and there are many of them), the length of the fruit can vary from 3 to 40 cm. The color of the peel is yellow, greenish, red, sometimes silvery.

Edible varieties of bananas are divided into dessert and plantains, the latter are eaten after heat treatment. The pulp of ripe fruits is white with a cream or yellow tint, soft, sweet, aromatic.

Beneficial features

Banana pulp has high nutritional properties. It is rich in vitamin C and minerals such as phosphorus, iron, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

Banana improves mood, helps with emotional overload, anxiety, depression. This effect on the psyche is explained by the content of vitamin B6, in bananas it is several times more than in other fruits.

Pectin-rich banana pulp is an excellent remedy for digestive problems. In addition, the absorbent and enveloping properties of this natural sorbent help cleanse the body.

Harmful properties

Sick diabetes and those on a strict diet should consult their healthcare professional before including bananas in their diet, as the fruits contain starch and sugars.

With caution, fruit should be consumed with increased blood clotting, because a banana indirectly increases its density.

Peculiarities

In countries with cold and temperate climate banana is a delicacy, while for the inhabitants of the tropics it is an important ingredient in the main diet.

Dessert varieties well known to Europeans make up only 20% of all cultivated bananas, while 80% are platines, which, through heat treatment, become components of various dishes.

Banana (Musa) is a large herbaceous plant of the banana family (Musaceae), growing in tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia and Australia.
All representatives of the genus are single-fruited plants that die after fruiting, only the underground part of the plant remains - a spherical stem with a rhizome. New plants are formed from the underground part.
Banana is a herbaceous rosette of leaves with long vaginal cuttings, which form a kind of trunk. Bananas have a powerful, well-branched root system, on which there is a central growth point. Leaf blades collected in the upper part of the plant are very large, up to 2-3 m long and up to 50 cm wide, juicy, elliptical, can be completely green, green with burgundy spots or green above and purple-red below. During the flowering period, a flower bud awakens, the peduncle grows through the center of the rosette, through the entire tube of the leaf sheaths and at its top a large racemose inflorescence 80 to 150 cm long is formed, consisting of numerous yellowish-green flowers. Banana flowering can last for several months in a row.
In the inflorescence of a banana there are both heterosexual and bisexual flowers. But the ovary comes only from female flowers. For pollination, a banana needs bats or birds (at room conditions - a person).
Fruits are formed along the entire length of the inflorescence, they fit tightly to each other, forming the so-called bunch. The total number of fruits in such a bunch is 200-500 pieces. A single banana fruit has an elongated bean-shaped shape from 3 to 40 cm long.
In room conditions, bananas are grown more as ornamental plants than for fruit, but if desired, it is possible to grow fruits.
Kinds

Velvet banana (Musa velutina) is a perennial herbaceous plant, reaches a height of 1.3 meters, blooms at the age of one year. The bracts are pink, the flowers are bright yellow with a pleasant aroma. When blooming, the bracts gradually unbend, and then fold into a tube. The fruits are velvety pinkish, with many seeds.

Banana lavender (Musa ornata) is a perennial herbaceous plant grown as an ornamental plant.

It blooms with lilac-yellow-orange flowers.

Banana bright red (Musa coccinea) is a perennial herbaceous plant, lower than the growth of previous species, pink bracts.

Lighting
Bananas are very demanding on lighting, they prefer a bright and long period of lighting, they tolerate direct sunlight. In winter, additional lighting is required.

Temperature
Bananas are heat-loving plants, so the temperature of the content should not fall below 16 ° C. Optimum temperature content 24-30°C.

Air humidity
Banana prefers high humidity, otherwise the leaves lose their luster and dry. To increase the humidity of the air, the leaves are regularly sprayed, you can put the pot in a wide pan with wet expanded clay, but the bottom of the pot should not touch the water. periodically you can wash in the shower or wipe the leaves with a damp cloth.

Watering
In the spring and summer, the banana is watered abundantly, but the water in the pot is not allowed to stagnate. In autumn, watering is reduced, in winter it is watered moderately. For irrigation use soft settled water at room temperature or a few degrees higher.
Fertilizer
From April to September, a banana is fed 2 times a month with liquid mineral fertilizers for indoor plants.

Transfer
Banana is transplanted annually, in spring, into wide, roomy pots. Planting a banana should always be deeper than it was originally planted, this stimulates the formation of new roots. A mixture of turf, humus, leafy soil and sand (2: 2: 2: 1) is suitable for growing. Drainage must be placed at the bottom.

reproduction
Bananas are propagated by offspring, division of rhizomes, and some species by seeds.
Seeds are scarified (sawed) before planting, soaked in warm water for several days, then sown in a moist substrate consisting of equal parts of leafy, peat soil, sand and charcoal. Seeds are buried to a depth equal to their size, covered with a glass cap or a transparent bag. It is necessary to maintain a temperature of 24-26 ° C, constantly spray and air regularly, when using a mini-greenhouse, germination is faster. Shoots appear in 1-2 months. When the seedlings have two or three leaves, they dive into pots of the appropriate size. Seedlings are growing fast. With good care, they can bloom at the age of one year.
The offspring are separated from the mother plant along with part of the rhizome. The cut is powdered with charcoal powder. Young plants are planted in a substrate of two parts of leaf, two parts of peat soil and sand.
Diseases and pests
If the plant is over-watered, leaf spot or root rot may develop. Indoor plants often infect mealybugs, spider mites, thrips, scale insects.

Banana plant.

The banana belongs to the banana family. It is believed that its homeland is Southeast Asia, in particular, the Malay Peninsula.

The Banana genus consists of four sections: decorative (which rarely bloom, but do not set edible fruits); technical (from which valuable fiber is obtained); fodder (these are mealy bananas with a high starch content, which are dried and made into flour); fruit (which can be consumed fresh, fried, dried, canned).

Description of the banana plant

Banana is a perennial herbaceous plant. The stem is in the soil and is a powerful rhizome (rhizome), the mass of which reaches 10 kg or more. This is where carbohydrate stores accumulate.

At the apical growth point of the rhizome, the above-ground system of the plant develops. What is commonly referred to as a stem or trunk is a sheath of leaves wrapped one around the other. This false trunk, or pseudostem, can reach a height of 9 m and a diameter of 60 cm. Young leaves alternately grow through the middle of the pseudostem. The interval between the appearance of subsequent leaves is on average 6-7 days in the wet season, and 16 days in the dry season.
Banana forms a powerful leaf apparatus. The leaf area of ​​the Gros Michel variety is on average 3.5 m2, and the leaf area of ​​the whole plant is 92 m2.

The length of the productive life of leaves depends on natural conditions. In leaves older than 6 months, the intensity of photosynthesis decreases, which is why their removal does not affect the yield. Together with the old leaves, pests and pathogens are removed.

After the formation of leaves from the apical bud of the rhizome, an inflorescence is formed. It grows through the middle of the pseudostem to its top. Each "stem" individually is monocarpic and dies off after fruiting.

An apical bud (“heart”) initially appears on the inflorescence of a banana, under the covering scales of which flowers develop. The first flowers in the basal part of the inflorescence are functionally female. They are collected in tiers ("hands"), each of which has up to 28 flowers. The total number of "hands" ranges from 1 to 20. The record brush had 151 "hands" and 3137 fruits.

Following the female flowers, bisexual flowers and functionally male flowers are formed. However, only female flowers develop into fruits - without fertilization, that is, parthenocarpic.

Usually flowering occurs 6-8 months after the start of pseudostem growth. In the tropics, the duration of fruit ripening ranges from 90 to 120 days.
Mature brush in most commercial varieties consists of several dozen fruits ("fingers") weighing 10-30 kg, sometimes up to 70 kg. After fruiting and death of the pseudostem, fruiting is replaced by new offspring from the buds of the rhizome. By the time the fruit ripens on the main stem, the offspring reach large sizes. Then they bloom, give a harvest and die off, and in the meantime new ones grow from the rhizome.

Since the banana is a monocotyledonous plant, it does not have thick skeletal roots, but a large number of adventitious roots of the 1st order are formed, the same in diameter, about 1 cm. Secondary thickening of the roots does not occur. In the first months after planting, the most intensive root formation occurs from the rhizome. The bulk of the roots lie in the upper layers of the soil, up to 10 cm. In an arid climate, the roots are located deeper. The depth of the horizontal roots is 15-75 cm. The vertical roots penetrate the soil up to 1-1.5 m. The high demands of the banana on the moisture regime and soil fertility are associated with the surface placement of the roots.

Over 40 species, in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and Australia. The birthplace of cultivated bananas is India. Banana is one of the oldest crops (from 4th to 7th centuries BC).
The first banana described in botany (K. Linney, 1753) was the cultivated species Banana paradise (M. paradisiaca). For many tropical countries, it is the most important food plant and the main export item. It is believed that modern cultivated bananas arose as a result of crossing Banana pointed (M. acuminata) and Banana Balbis (M. balbistana). In cultural forms, the fruit is often devoid of seeds (plants reproduce vegetatively) and reaches a length of 15 cm, a diameter of 3-4 cm. 10-16 fruits develop in the axil of one covering leaf, the entire inflorescence contains up to 300 fruits (total weight 50-60 kg). The fruits are consumed fresh or dried, some (with hard, unsweetened pulp) are used as livestock feed. Textile banana, or abaca, is a technical plant whose leaves give fiber (the so-called manila hemp). Bananas are grown mainly in Latin America (2/3 of the world crop). In Russia, on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus and Crimea, a Japanese banana, or decorative (M. basjoo), is grown.

In Victorian times, the banana occupied the most honorable place in home greenhouses, but only today interest in this plant is reviving again. There are few plants whose leaves give a houseplant collection such an unmistakable tropical look. A banana grows better in a greenhouse than in a living room, but even when growing under glass, you should choose the type of plant very carefully. In indoor conditions, bananas are grown more as ornamental plants than for fruit.

Varieties

In indoor floriculture on sale, you can most often find these types of indoor banana:

Velvet banana (velvet banana) Musa velutiana comes from India - the plant reaches a height of 1.3 m, has leaves up to 60 cm long, blooms with yellow flowers collected on the cob with red (bright pink) bract leaves, forms a bunch of reddish fruits colors with a velvety surface. The fruits of the velvety banana are beautiful, but not edible. It is grown for flowering, which can occur even at a younger age (about 1 year) than other types of banana. During flowering and fruiting, the banana is highly decorative with its pink bracts and velvety fruits.

Banana bright red Musa coccinea comes from India, tropical China and Vietnam, rarely exceeds 1 m in height, suitable for growing in an apartment. Differs in bright red flowers of bracts. Grown as an ornamental flowering exotic plant for cutting and landscaping. The fruits are small, yellow, up to 5 cm long.

Banana lavender Musa ornata comes from the island of Borneo and is grown for its very showy purple-yellow-orange flowers. Often, lavender banana flowers are used as cut flowers for particularly beautiful bouquets and arrangements (as are the flowers of the related Strelitzia plant). Banana lavender is rarely seen on sale, but it is ideal for growing as a potted plant. Lavender banana fruits are small, dark pink or cream.

Pointed banana Musa acuminata is a large shrub plant with leaves 40-70 cm long, ideal for growing in an apartment, because. grows not so intensively, for a relatively long time leaves a compact form. With age, whole banana leaves are divided into fibers. Flowers are collected in conical inflorescences, appear on the plant over the age of 3 years. Fruits are formed only in greenhouse conditions. This type of banana is most suitable for growing indoors. The fruits of the pointed banana are edible, but after fruiting, the banana dies, it is replaced by young basal rosettes.

Cavendish banana (synonymous with dwarf banana) Musa cavendishii is a compact plant with beautiful dark green leaves with red-brown spots. A plant from South Africa, in addition to its compact size, is distinguished from other types of banana by the presence of small brown spots on the peel of ripe fruits. The inflorescence of a dwarf banana is drooping, the fruits are yellow, thin-legged, identical to edible varieties of bananas.

Banana Manna Musa mannii has large red flowers. A low-growing plant up to a meter high with leaves reaching a length of 60-80 cm and 20 cm in width.
There are a couple more varieties that belong to the Banana family, but differ from other types of bananas in the usual sense, because of the characteristics of the perianth, these two genera of bananas - Musella lasiocarpa and Ensete ventricosum - scientists are trying to separate from the genus Musa.

Banana plant. Photo

Banana plant. Photo: Megan Hansen

Swollen banana (or Abyssinian banana, or Ethiopian banana) Musa ensete (its synonym is the name Ensete ventricosum associated with the allocation of this type of banana to a separate genus of plants Ensete) - is distinguished by strikingly beautiful bright green leaves with a red central vein and a red-brown lower surface leaves. This banana, like the textile banana (also known as the Musa textilis abacus banana), is grown not only as an edible fruit, but also for making textiles from leaves (ropes, ropes, hemp). In addition, starch is extracted from the roots of this banana in Ethiopia. The plant is tall, characterized by intensive growth in room conditions.

The Chinese dwarf banana Musella lasiocarpa is also known to flower growers under the name "Golden Lotus" and belongs to the Musella genus of the Banana family (according to some sources, this genus is monotypic, represented by only one species, according to other sources, there are two species of the representative in the genus), in fact, it is only a relative other types of bananas. The taxonomy of this plant genus is still controversial. This Chinese banana is decorative with a large bright yellow inflorescence (due to bracts), flowering occurs already in the second year of cultivation. Flowering continues for several months. Before dissolution, the inflorescence resembles a lotus bud, for which the plant received its second name. This species grows in the highlands of China and the Himalayas.

Video: Banana
Latvian bananas 

BANANA
Musa

Banana family -
Musaceae

An ornamental deciduous plant, which can also be considered a flowering plant.

natural climatic conditions: tropics and subtropics of Asia. Banana is primarily a fruit crop, but it is not grown in rooms for this purpose. Firstly, it is rather difficult to achieve full fruiting (as opposed to flowering), in which the fruits not only appear, but also ripen, and secondly, one of the important biological features of a banana is that after fruiting its aerial part dies off (later new shoots appear from the rhizome). In addition, there are a number of other types of banana that are grown as indoor ornamental plants. Their fruits, although beautiful, are inedible for humans.

Banana dessert or paradise

Musa paradisiaca

A hybrid obtained from crossing several species. It can reach a height of 5–6 m. Leaves 2–2.5 m long, 60 cm wide, with brown spots. Inflorescence hanging, up to 1.5 m. Edible fruit, powdery. Planted in the ground in the winter garden, this hybrid, with active care, bears fruit in the third year.

Banana pointed

Musa acuminata

This species is relatively small - 1.5–2 m. The leaves (0.7–1 m long, 30 cm wide) are collected in apical rosettes, the inflorescence is drooping.

Also common in indoor floriculture are Banana species such as M. velutina and M. coccinea (bright red banana). M. velutina reaches a height of 1.3 meters, M. coccinea is shorter, its height does not exceed 1 m. In M. velutina, yellow flowers are followed by beautiful but inedible fruits.

Banana is an excellent pot plant, but requires a large amount of land to grow successfully. With good care, the leaves grow very quickly. It should be noted that they require careful handling, as they are easily torn and therefore lose their decorative effect.

All of these species are used in interior gardening of large high-rise buildings. Banana creates a special tropical flavor in the room, and in the winter garden surpasses many other plants in majesty.

Features of care

Temperature: banana is very thermophilic, even in winter the temperature should not fall below 16°C.

Lighting: full sun, light shade in summer.

Humidity: A banana needs abundant and frequent watering all year round, the soil in the pot where it grows must be constantly moist. It is necessary to spray a banana daily, in hot weather and from the first days of the heating season, preferably twice a day. If the plant is not kept in the florarium, then it is necessary to increase the atmospheric humidity around it, while excluding winter ventilation.

Soil: equal parts of sod and leaf soil, humus, peat and sand.

Nutrition: it is advisable to feed the banana every ten days with solutions of organic or complex fertilizers.

Reproduction: at home is impractical.

Other care: regular loosening of the soil. Transplantation is carried out if necessary, for example, if the pot has become too small.

Possible problems

• browning of banana leaves (starting from the tip and along the edges) indicates insufficient air humidity;
• blanching of the leaves and stretching of the trunk is usually due to a lack of light;
• too low or too high humidity levels can cause the plant to dry out or rot.

Banana diseases and pests

Scale insects settle on leaves, feed on plant sap. Yellow spots form on banana leaves, with a strong infection, the leaves fall off.
Control measures: treat the plant with soapy water, in case of severe infection, treat the plant with actellik (15-20 drops per 1 liter of water) or decis.

Mealybug settles on leaves, emits honeydew. Sucks out the juice, because of this, the banana leaves turn yellow and fall off.
Control measures: Using a cotton swab moistened with alcohol, collect the mealybugs. In case of severe infection, treat the plant with karbofosam (20 - 40 drops per 1 liter of water). Wash off the honeydew with soapy water.

Spider mite - banana leaves turn yellow, covered with light spots, a white web appears between the leaves and the stem.
Control measures: spray the plant with water. In case of severe infection, treat with actellik or decis.

Gray rot - gray fluffy mold covers the leaves and stem of the banana, the soil.
Control measures: remove damaged plant parts and soil, ventilate the room more often. In case of severe infection, treat with foundationazole (0.2%) or copper oxychloride (0.5%).

Name

First time title Musa, which later became scientific, was assigned to the banana by the German naturalist Georg Rumph (1627-1702), the predecessor of the founder of the scientific classification of the Swedish naturalist and physician Carl Linnaeus. Linnaeus, compiling the classification of plants, retained this name. There are two theories about where this word came from, but in any case it is not connected with the muses. According to the first theory, the name was given in honor of Antony Musa, court physician to the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus. According to the second theory, the name comes from the Arabic word "muz" (arab. موز ‎), which the Arabs call bananas. The very word "banana", consonant in all modern European languages, was apparently borrowed by the Portuguese or Spaniards in 1590-1600 from West African languages: wolof, mandinka ("banana") or wai ("bana").

Sometimes a banana is called a "banana palm", which is incorrect, since it belongs to the Palm family ( Arecaceae) does not belong to this plant.

Description

Representatives of the genus are herbaceous plants with a powerful root system, a short stem that does not protrude above the ground and 6-20 leaves, the sheaths of which form a semblance of a trunk. Plant height varies from 2 to 9 m and even higher, making them one of the tallest grasses in the world (along with bamboos), which is why many people mistake them for trees. The tallest plant of the banana genus is the species Musa itinerans- the height of its variety Musa itinerans var. gigantea can reach 12 m. Around the main stem, many side shoots are formed, one of which subsequently replaces the previous one - this is how reproduction occurs. Roots numerous, fibrous; in fertile soil they go up to 4.9 m to the side and up to 1.5 m deep.

Fruits develop only from female flowers (bisexual flowers are sterile); as it develops, each row of fruits more and more resembles a hand with many fingers, each of which is a multi-seeded berry with a thick leathery shell. The size, color and shape of the fruits can vary considerably depending on the species or variety, but most often they have an oblong cylindrical or trihedral shape, straightened or rounded. The length of the fetus varies from 3 to 40 cm, thickness - from 2 to 8 cm. Skin color can be yellow, green, red or even silver. The flesh of the fruit is white, cream, yellow or orange. When immature, it is firm and sticky, but as it matures, it becomes soft and juicy.

Spreading

Naturally occurring plants of the genus Musa grow in the subtropics and tropics of Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands, New Guinea, and Malaysia. The center of the emergence of cultural forms of bananas is considered to be India and the Indochinese Peninsula. In many countries of Latin America, the cultivation of edible varieties of bananas is carried out on an industrial scale, and the export of the fruits of these plants is an important part of the economy of some tropical countries.

Kinds

According to modern concepts, there are several dozen species, some famous species are:

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Notes

1. For the conditionality of indicating the class of monocots as a parent taxon for the group of plants described in this article, see the section "APG Systems" of the article "Monocots".
2. in the database Index Nominum Genericorum International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT). (English)
3. . Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry.. traditionaltree.org (2006). Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
4. . Retrieved July 15, 2013. .
5. . The Plant List. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
6. Shipunov, A. B.. Moscow State University Botanical Server (2004). Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
7. Karamura, Deborah A. Numerical Taxonomic Studies Of The East African Highland Bananas (Musa AAA-East Africa) In Uganda. - Bioversity International, 1999. - P. 17. - ISBN 9782910810313.
8. Golovkin, B. N.. - Science and life, 2003. - No. 3. - S. 126.
9. Wells, Diana. Lives of the Trees: An Uncommon History. - Algonquin Books, 2010. - P. 44. - 369 p. - ISBN 978-1565124912.
10. . Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. Retrieved December 1, 2011. .
11. Roche, Julian. The International Banana Trade. - CRC Press, 1998. - P. 7. - 288 p. - ISBN 978-0849305450.
12. . Complete Guide to Bananas. banana.com Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
13. . Nature Products. natureproducts.net. Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
14. Morton, Julia F.. - Florida Flair Books, 1987. - P. 29–46. - 505p. - ISBN 978-0961018412.
15. Morshchihina S. S. Banana family (Musaceae) // Plant life. In 6 volumes / Ch. ed. Takhtadzhyan A. L. . - M .: Education, 1982. - V. 6. Flowering plants. / Ed. A. L. Takhtadzhyan. - S. 381-385. - 543 p. - 300,000 copies.
16. Banana // Angola - Barzas. - M. : Soviet Encyclopedia, 1970. - (Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ch. ed. A. M. Prokhorov; 1969-1978, v. 2).
17. . Complete Guide to Bananas. Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
18. . Flora of China. efloras.org. Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
19. . Globalnet Systems Ltd (2003). Retrieved November 10, 2012. .
20. . Globalnet Systems Ltd (2008). Retrieved November 10, 2012. .

Links

• : information about the taxon in the Plantarium project (a key to plants and an illustrated atlas of species).

An excerpt characterizing Banana (genus)

“Eat, young lady countess,” she kept saying, giving Natasha one thing, then another. Natasha ate everything, and it seemed to her that she had never seen or eaten such cakes on yuraga, with such a bouquet of jams, nuts on honey, and such a chicken. Anisya Fyodorovna went out. Rostov and his uncle, washing down their dinner with cherry liqueur, talked about past and future hunting, about Rugai and the Ilaginsky dogs. Natasha, with sparkling eyes, sat straight up on the sofa, listening to them. Several times she tried to wake Petya to give him something to eat, but he said something incomprehensible, obviously not waking up. Natasha was so cheerful at heart, so happy in this new environment for her, that she was only afraid that the droshky would come for her too soon. After an accidental silence, as almost always happens with people who receive their acquaintances for the first time in their house, the uncle said, answering the thought that his guests had:
“So I’m living out my life… If you die, it’s a pure march—nothing will be left.” What a sin then!
Uncle's face was very significant and even beautiful when he said this. At the same time, Rostov involuntarily remembered everything that he had heard good things from his father and neighbors about his uncle. My uncle had a reputation throughout the whole neighborhood of the province as the noblest and most disinterested eccentric. He was called upon to judge family affairs, he was made an executor, secrets were trusted to him, he was elected judge and other positions, but he stubbornly refused public service, spending autumn and spring in the fields on his brown gelding, sitting at home in winter, lying in his overgrown summer garden.
- Why don't you serve, uncle?
- He served, but quit. I'm not fit, it's a clean march, I can't make out anything. It's your business, and I'm not smart enough. As for hunting, it's another matter, it's a pure march! Open that door, he shouted. - What did they shut up! - The door at the end of the corridor (which uncle called the kolidor) led to an idle hunting room: that was the name of the human for hunters. Bare feet quickly slapped and an invisible hand opened the door to the hunting room. From the corridor, the sounds of a balalaika were clearly audible, which was apparently played by some kind of master of this business. Natasha had been listening to these sounds for a long time and now went out into the corridor to hear them more clearly.
- This is my coachman Mitka ... I bought him a good balalaika, I love it, - said my uncle. - It was customary for my uncle that when he came home from hunting, Mitka would play the balalaika in the bachelor's hunting lodge. Uncle loved to listen to this music.
“How good, really excellent,” said Nikolai with some involuntary disdain, as if he was ashamed to admit that these sounds were very pleasant to him.
- How great? - Natasha said reproachfully, feeling the tone in which her brother said this. - Not great, but it's a charm, what is it! - Just like mushrooms, honey and uncle's liqueurs seemed to her the best in the world, so this song seemed to her at that moment the height of musical charm.
“More, please, more,” Natasha said at the door, as soon as the balalaika fell silent. Mitka tuned in and again valiantly rattled the Lady with busts and interceptions. Uncle sat and listened, his head tilted to one side with a slight smile. The motif of the Lady was repeated a hundred times. The balalaika was tuned several times and the same sounds rattled again, and the listeners did not get bored, but only wanted to hear this game again and again. Anisya Fyodorovna came in and leaned her fat body against the lintel.
“If you please listen,” she said to Natasha, with a smile very similar to her uncle’s smile. “He plays well with us,” she said.
“He’s doing something wrong in this knee,” my uncle suddenly said with an energetic gesture. - Here it is necessary to scatter - a clean march - scatter ...
– Do you know how? Natasha asked. Uncle smiled without answering.
- Look, Anisyushka, that the strings are intact, or something, on the guitar? I haven’t taken it in my hands for a long time - it’s a pure march! abandoned.
Anisya Fyodorovna willingly went with her light step to carry out her master's order and brought the guitar.
Uncle, without looking at anyone, blew off the dust, tapped the lid of the guitar with his bony fingers, tuned it, and straightened himself in his chair. He took (with a somewhat theatrical gesture, leaving the elbow of his left hand) the guitar above the neck and, winking at Anisya Fyodorovna, he began not to the Lady, but took one sonorous, clear chord, and measuredly, calmly, but firmly began to finish with a very quiet tempo famous song: Along the street and the pavement. At the same time, in time with that sedate joy (the same that Anisya Fyodorovna's whole being breathed), the motive of the song sang in the soul of Nikolai and Natasha. Anisya Fyodorovna blushed and, covering herself with a handkerchief, laughingly left the room. Uncle continued to cleanly, diligently and energetically firmly finish the song, looking with a changed inspired look at the place from which Anisya Fyodorovna had left. A little bit something laughed in his face on one side under a gray mustache, especially laughed when the song dispersed further, the beat accelerated and something came off in places of busts.
- Charm, charm, uncle; more, more, ”Natasha shouted as soon as he finished. She jumped up from her seat, hugged her uncle and kissed him. - Nikolenka, Nikolenka! she said, looking round at her brother and as if asking him: what is this?
Nikolai also really liked the uncle's game. Uncle played the song a second time. The smiling face of Anisya Fyodorovna appeared again at the door, and from behind her there were still other faces ... "Behind the cold key, she shouts: wait a girl!" my uncle played, again made a deft enumeration, tore it off and moved his shoulders.
“Well, well, my dear, uncle,” Natasha groaned in such an imploring voice, as if her life depended on it. Uncle stood up and as if there were two people in him - one of them smiled seriously at the merry fellow, and the merry fellow made a naive and neat trick before the dance.
- Well, niece! - shouted the uncle, waving his hand to Natasha, tearing off the chord.
Natasha threw off the handkerchief that was thrown over her, ran ahead of her uncle and, propping her hands on her hips, made a movement with her shoulders and stood.
Where, how, when she sucked into herself from that Russian air that she breathed - this countess, brought up by a French emigrant, this spirit, where did she get these techniques that pas de chale should long ago have been forced out? But these spirits and methods were the same, inimitable, not studied, Russian, which her uncle expected from her. As soon as she stood up, she smiled solemnly, proudly and cunningly cheerfully, the first fear that gripped Nikolai and all those present, the fear that she would do something wrong, passed and they were already admiring her.
She did the same thing and did it so exactly, so quite exactly, that Anisya Fyodorovna, who immediately handed her the handkerchief necessary for her work, burst into tears through laughter, looking at this thin, graceful, so alien to her, educated countess in silk and velvet. who knew how to understand everything that was in Anisya, and in Anisya's father, and in her aunt, and in her mother, and in every Russian person.
“Well, the countess is a pure march,” said the uncle, laughing joyfully, having finished the dance. - Oh yes, niece! If only you could choose a good fellow for you, - march is a clean business!
“Already chosen,” said Nikolai smiling.
- ABOUT? said the uncle in surprise, looking inquiringly at Natasha. Natasha nodded her head in the affirmative with a happy smile.
- Another one! - she said. But as soon as she said this, another, new line of thoughts and feelings arose in her. What did Nikolai's smile mean when he said: "already chosen"? Is he happy about it or not? He seems to think that my Bolkonsky would not have approved, would not have understood our joy. No, he would understand. Where is he now? thought Natasha, and her face suddenly became serious. But it only lasted for one second. “Don’t think about it, don’t dare to think about it,” she said to herself, and smiling, she sat down again with her uncle, asking him to play something else.
Uncle played another song and a waltz; then, after a pause, he cleared his throat and sang his favorite hunting song.
Like powder from the evening
Turned out good...
Uncle sang the way the people sing, with that complete and naive conviction that in a song all meaning lies only in the words, that the melody comes by itself and that there is no separate melody, but that the melody is only for the warehouse. Because of this, this unconscious tune, like the song of a bird, was unusually good with my uncle. Natasha was delighted with her uncle's singing. She decided that she would no longer study the harp, but would only play the guitar. She asked her uncle for a guitar and immediately picked up the chords for the song.
At ten o'clock a line, a droshky, and three riders arrived for Natasha and Petya, sent to look for them. The count and countess did not know where they were and were very worried, as the messenger said.
Petya was taken down and laid like a dead body in a ruler; Natasha and Nikolai got into the droshky. Uncle wrapped up Natasha and said goodbye to her with a completely new tenderness. He escorted them on foot to the bridge, which had to be bypassed into a ford, and ordered the hunters to go ahead with lanterns.
“Farewell, dear niece,” his voice shouted out of the darkness, not the one that Natasha had known before, but the one that sang: “Like powder since the evening.”
The village we passed had red lights and a cheerful smell of smoke.
- What a charm this uncle is! - said Natasha, when they drove out onto the main road.
“Yes,” said Nikolai. - Are you cold?
- No, I'm fine, fine. I feel so good, - Natasha even said with bewilderment. They were silent for a long time.
The night was dark and damp. The horses were not visible; all you could hear was their paddling through the invisible mud.
What was going on in this childish, receptive soul, which so greedily caught and assimilated all the most diverse impressions of life? How did it fit into her? But she was very happy. Already approaching the house, she suddenly sang the motive of the song: “Like powder from the evening,” a motive that she caught all the way and finally caught.
- Got it? Nikolay said.
“What are you thinking now, Nikolenka?” Natasha asked. They liked to ask each other that.
- I? - said Nikolai remembering; - you see, at first I thought that Rugai, the red male, looked like an uncle and that if he were a man, he would still keep the uncle with him, if not for the jump, then for the frets, he would keep everything. How good he is, uncle! Is not it? - Well, what about you?
- I? Hold on, hold on. Yes, at first I thought that here we are going and we think that we are going home, and God knows where we are going in this darkness and suddenly we will arrive and see that we are not in Otradnoye, but in a magical kingdom. And then I thought… No, nothing more.
“I know, I was thinking about him right,” Nikolai said smiling, as Natasha recognized by the sound of his voice.
“No,” answered Natasha, although at the same time she really thought both about Prince Andrei and about how he would like his uncle. “And I also repeat everything, I repeat all the way: how Anisyushka performed well, well ...” said Natasha. And Nikolai heard her sonorous, causeless, happy laughter.
“You know,” she said suddenly, “I know that I will never be as happy and calm as I am now.
“That’s nonsense, nonsense, lies,” said Nikolai and thought: “What a charm this Natasha of mine is! I don't have another friend like him and never will. Why should she get married, everyone would go with her!
“What a charm this Nikolai is!” thought Natasha. - A! there’s still a fire in the living room,” she said, pointing to the windows of the house, which shone beautifully in the wet, velvet darkness of the night.

Count Ilya Andreich resigned from the leaders because this post was too expensive. But things didn't get better for him. Often Natasha and Nikolai saw the secret, restless negotiations of their parents and heard rumors about the sale of a rich, ancestral Rostov house and a suburban one. Without leadership, it was not necessary to have such a large reception, and the life of congratulations was conducted more quietly than in previous years; but the huge house and outbuilding were still full of people, everyone sat down at the table more people. All of these were people who had settled down in the house, almost members of the family, or those who, it seemed, had to live in the count's house. These were Dimmler - a musician with his wife, Yogel - a dance teacher with his family, the old lady Belova, who lived in the house, and many others: Petya's teachers, the former governess of young ladies and just people who were better or more profitable to live with the count than at home. There was no such big visit as before, but the course of life was the same, without which the count and countess could not imagine life. There was the same, still increased by Nikolai, hunting, the same 50 horses and 15 coachmen at the stable, the same expensive gifts on name days, and solemn dinners for the whole county; the same count whists and bostons, behind which he, dissolving cards for everyone to see, allowed himself to be beaten every day by hundreds of neighbors who looked at the right to play the game of Count Ilya Andreich as the most profitable lease.

Banana ( Musa) is a perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to the flowering department, the monocotyledonous class, the ginger-colored order, the banana family, the banana genus.

Origin of the word "banana"

There is no exact information about the origin of the Latin definition of Musa. Some researchers believe that the banana was named in memory of the court physician Antonio Musa, who was in the service of Octavian Augustus, the Roman emperor who ruled in the last decades BC. e and the first years of our era. According to another theory, it comes from the Arabic word "موز‎", which sounds like "muses" - the name of the edible fruit produced by this plant. The concept of "banana" passed into the Russian language as a free transliteration of the word "banana" from the dictionaries of almost all European languages. Apparently, this definition was borrowed by Spanish or Portuguese sailors at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries from the vocabulary of the tribes living in West Africa.

Banana - description, structure, characteristics and photos

Despite the fact that in appearance a banana resembles a tree, in fact a banana is a grass, namely a herbaceous plant with powerful roots, a short stem that does not come to the surface, and 6-20 large leaves. After bamboo, banana is the tallest grass in the world. The banana fruit is a berry.

Trunk and roots

Numerous fibrous roots that form the root system can spread to the sides up to 5 meters and deepen in search of moisture up to 1.5 meters. The false trunk of a banana, reaching a height of 2 to 12 meters and having a diameter of up to 40 cm, has dense and long leaves that overlap each other.

banana leaves

Banana leaves are oblong or oval in shape, their length can exceed 3 meters, and their width can reach 1 meter. One large longitudinal vein clearly appears on their surface, from which many small perpendicular veins extend. The color of banana leaves is varied. Depending on the species or variety, it can be completely green, with maroon spots of various shapes, or two-tone - painted in crimson hues below and juicy green tones above. As the banana matures, the old leaves die off and fall to the ground, while the young ones develop inside the false trunk. The renewal rate of one banana leaf under favorable conditions occurs in 7 days.

How does a banana bloom?

Active growth of bananas lasts from 8 to 10 months, after which the flowering phase begins. At this time, a long peduncle sprouts up from the underground tuberous stem up through the entire trunk. Having made its way out, it forms a complex inflorescence, which in its shape resembles a kind of large bud, painted in purple or green shades. Banana flowers are arranged in tiers at its base. At the very top are large female flowers that form fruits, below are medium bisexual banana flowers, and even lower are small male flowers, which have the smallest sizes.

Regardless of the size, the banana flower consists of 3 tubular petals with 3 sepals. Most bananas have white petals, the outer surface of the leaves that cover them is purple, and the inner surface is dark red. Depending on the type or variety of banana, inflorescences are of two types: upright and drooping.

At night, pollination of female flowers occurs, and in the morning and afternoon by small mammals or birds. As the banana fruits develop, they become similar to a hand with many fingers growing on it.

At its core, the banana fruit is a berry. His appearance depends on species and cultivar. It can be oblong cylindrical or triangular in shape and have a length of 3 to 40 centimeters. Banana skin color can be green, yellow, red and with a silvery tint. As it ripens, the firm flesh becomes soft and juicy. About 300 fruits with a total weight of up to 70 kg can develop from one inflorescence. Banana flesh is creamy, white, orange, or yellow. Banana seeds can be found in wild fruits, and in cultivated species they are almost completely absent. After fruiting is completed, the false stem of the plant dies off, and a new one grows in its place.

Banana palm and banana tree. Do bananas grow on palm trees?

Sometimes a banana is called a banana palm, which is incorrect, since this plant does not belong to the palm family. Banana is a fairly tall plant, so it is not surprising that many people mistake it for a tree. The Greeks and Romans spoke of it as a "wonderful Indian fruit tree" - hence, by analogy with other fruit trees in this region, the expression "banana palm" spread.

The phrase "banana tree", which is sometimes called a banana, actually refers to plants from the genus pawpaw ( Asimina), of the Annon family and is associated with the similarity of the fruits of these trees with banana fruits.

Banana is not a fruit, not a tree, not a palm tree. In fact, a banana is a grass (herbaceous plant), and a banana fruit is a berry!

Where do bananas grow?

Bananas grow in countries of the tropical and subtropical zone: in South Asia, Latin America, Malaysia, northeast Australia, and also on some islands of Japan. On an industrial scale, the banana plant is grown in Bhutan and Pakistan, China and India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Maldives and Nepal, Thailand and Brazil. On the territory of Russia, bananas grow naturally near Sochi, however, due to the fact that winter temperatures often fall below zero degrees, the fruits do not ripen. Moreover, under prolonged adverse conditions, some plants may die.

Banana composition, vitamins and minerals. What are the benefits of bananas?

Bananas are classified as low-fat, but quite nutritious and energy-rich foods. The pulp of its raw fruits is a quarter composed of carbohydrates and sugars, a third of solids. It contains starch, fiber, pectins, proteins and various essential oils giving the fruit its characteristic aroma. The composition of banana pulp includes minerals and vitamins that are useful and necessary for the human body: potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, sodium, copper, zinc, as well as vitamins B, E, C and PP. Thanks to the unique chemical composition The plant has been used in medicine.

How many calories are in a banana?

Data per 100 grams of product:

• calorie green banana - 89 kcal;
• calorie content of a ripe banana - 110-120 kcal;
• calorie content of an overripe banana - 170-180 kcal;
• calorie content of dried banana - 320 kcal.

Since bananas are different in size, the calorie content of 1 banana varies between 70-135 kilocalories:

• 1 small banana weighing up to 80 g and up to 15 cm long contains approximately 72 kcal;
• 1 medium banana weighing up to 117 g and more than 18 cm long contains approximately 105 kcal;
• 1 large banana weighing more than 150 g and more than 22 cm long contains about 135 kcal.

Energy value of a ripe banana (ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates) (data per 100 g):

• proteins in a banana - 1.5 g (~ 6 kcal);
• fats in a banana - 0.5 g (~ 5 kcal);
• carbohydrates in a banana - 21 g (~ 84 kcal).

It's important to note that bananas don't do a very good job of curbing hunger, making it worse after a brief satiety. The reason lies in the significant content of sugar, which rises in the blood and after a while increases appetite.

Useful properties of banana. The use of bananas

So what are bananas good for?

• Banana pulp is used to relieve inflammatory processes occurring in the oral cavity, as well as a dietary product in the treatment of stomach and duodenal ulcers. In addition, the banana is laxative and is therefore used as a mild laxative. Due to the presence of tryptophan, an amino acid that prevents cell aging and has a beneficial effect on brain function, bananas are recommended to be eaten by the elderly. The presence of potassium and magnesium allows them to be used as a means of preventing raising blood pressure and stroke.
• Infusion of banana flowers helps in the treatment of diabetes and bronchitis. The juice obtained from banana stems is a good anticonvulsant and sedative.
• The invaluable benefits of bananas are concentrated in the peel. Banana skins are used for medicinal purposes. Compresses from young leaves or banana peel contribute to the rapid healing of burns and abscesses on the skin.
• Banana peel is used as a fertilizer for both indoor and outdoor flowers. The fact is that it contains a large amount of phosphorus and potassium. With the help of a banana peel, you can also fight with, which does not tolerate excess potassium. To do this, you just need to make a tincture on banana skins and water the plants with it. The easiest way to use banana skins to fertilize flowers is to simply bury them in the ground. To do this, it is enough to cut the peel into small pieces. After this procedure, even the most tired plants begin to leaf out and bloom. Banana peel decomposes in the ground for 10 days, after which bacteria eat it.
• The benefits of bananas are invaluable: even overripe bananas produce a very powerful antioxidant that prevents cancer.

Residents of countries located in temperate latitudes are happy to eat raw peeled bananas as a dessert, add them to ice cream and confectionery. Some peoples prefer dried and canned bananas. Also, this berry is fried and boiled with or without a peel, adding salt, hot spices, olive oil, onion or garlic. Bananas can be used to make flour, chips, syrup, marmalade, honey and wine. In addition to fruits, the banana inflorescence is also eaten: raw inflorescences are dipped in sauce, and boiled ones are added to gravies or soups. Starch is prepared from unripe banana fruits. Boiled banana waste of vegetable and dessert varieties is used as feed for large and small livestock.

The fruits and other parts of the banana are used:

• in the leather industry as a black dye;
• in the textile industry for the production of fabrics;
• for the manufacture of extra strong marine ropes and ropes;
• in the construction of rafts and the manufacture of seat cushions;
• as plates and trays for serving traditional South Asian dishes in India and Sri Lanka.

Bananas: contraindications and harm

• It is undesirable to eat bananas before bedtime, and also to combine with milk, so as not to provoke fermentation in the stomach and not cause intestinal failure.
• People with diabetes should not eat bananas because they contain little glucose and fructose, but a lot of sugar.
• Bananas can harm people who suffer from thrombophlebitis, as these berries contribute to blood clots.

Types and varieties of bananas, names and photos

The genus includes about 70 species of bananas, which, depending on the application, are divided into 3 varieties:

• Decorative bananas (inedible);
• Plantains (sycamore);
• Dessert bananas.

decorative bananas

This group includes plants with very beautiful flowers and mostly inedible fruits. They can be wild or grown for beauty. Inedible bananas are also used to make various textile products, car seat cushions and fishing nets. The most famous types of ornamental bananas are:

• Banana pointed (Musa acuminata)

grown because of the beautiful leaves up to one meter long with a large central vein and many small ones, along which the leaf blade divides over time, acquiring resemblance to a bird feather. The leaves of the decorative banana are dark green, often there are specimens with a reddish tinge. In greenhouse conditions, the height of a pointed banana plant can reach 3.5 meters, although in room conditions it grows no more than 2 meters. The size of the fruits of this type of banana ranges from 5 to 30 centimeters, and their color can be green, yellow and even red. The pointed banana is edible and grows in the countries of southeast Asia, in southern China, India and Australia. In countries with colder climates, this type of banana is grown as an ornamental plant.

• Blue Burmese Banana (Musa itinerans)

grows in height from 2.5 to 4 meters. The trunk of a banana is painted in an unusual purple-green color with a silvery-white coating. The color of the leaf plates is bright green, and their length reaches an average of 0.7 meters. The dense peel of the banana fruit has a blue or purple color. The fruits of this banana are unsuitable for food. In addition to its decorative value, the blue banana is used as one of the components of the Asian diet. Banana grows in the following countries: China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos. This plant can also be grown in a pot.

• Musa Velutina)

has a false trunk height of not more than 1.5 meters with a diameter of about 7 centimeters. Banana leaves, painted in light green, grow up to 1 meter in length and 30 centimeters in width. Many specimens have a red edging along the edge of the leaf plate. The petals of inflorescences, pleasing with their appearance up to six months, are painted purple-pink. The pink peel of a banana is quite thick, and their number in a bunch does not exceed 9 pieces. The length of the fruit is 8 cm. When ripe, the skin of the fruit opens, revealing light flesh with seeds inside.

This variety of banana is used for decorative purposes. Might not survive much cold winter. This banana is also unique in that it will freely bloom and bear fruit almost all year round at home.

• Musa coccinea)

is a representative of low-growing plants. Its height rarely exceeds one meter. The shiny surface of narrow bright green banana leaves emphasizes the beauty of inflorescences of juicy scarlet or red color. The flowering period of a banana lasts about 2 months. Grown as an ornamental plant for beautiful orange-red flowers. The birthplace of the Indochinese banana is Southeast Asia.

• Banana Darjeeling (Musa sikkimensis)

grows up to 5.5 meters in height with a false trunk diameter at the base of about 45 cm. The color of this ornamental banana may have a red tint. The length of gray-green leaves with purple veins often exceeds 1.5-2 meters. Some varieties of the Darjeeling banana have red-tinted leaf plates. Banana fruits are medium-sized, up to 13 cm in length, with a slightly sweet taste. This species is quite frost-resistant and can withstand frosts down to -20 degrees. Banana is grown in many European countries.

• Japanese banana, Basho banana or Japanese textile banana ( Musa basjoo)

cold-resistant species, reaching a height of 2.5 meters. The surface of the false trunk of a banana is colored greenish or yellowish shades and is covered with a thin waxy layer on which black spots are visible. The length of leaf blades does not exceed 1.5 meters in length and 60 centimeters in width. The color of banana leaves varies from deep dark green at the base of the leaf to pale green at the top. The Japanese banana grows in Japan, as well as in Russia on the Black Sea coast. It is inedible and is grown mainly for fiber, which is used to make clothing, screens, and book bindings.

• Banana textile, abaca (Musa textilis)

grown to make strong fibers from the leaf sheaths. The height of the false trunk does not exceed 3.5 meters, and the diameter is 20 cm. Narrow green leaves rarely reach a length of more than one meter. The fruits that develop on a drooping brush have a trihedral appearance and sizes up to 8 centimeters. Inside the pulp is a large number of small seeds. The color changes from green to straw yellow as it matures. Textile banana is grown in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Central American countries in order to obtain a durable fiber from which baskets, furniture and other utensils are woven.

• Banana Balbisa (fruity) ( Musa balbisiana)

This is a large plant with a false stem height of up to 8 meters and a diameter at the base of more than 30 centimeters. Its color changes from green to yellow-green. The length of banana leaves can exceed 3 meters with a width of about 50-60 centimeters. Leaf sheaths are bluish in color and often covered with fine hairs. Fruit sizes reach 10 centimeters in length and 4 cm in width. The color of the banana peel changes with age from light yellow to dark brown or black. Banana fruits are used as food for. Unripe fruits are preserved. The male flower buds are eaten as a vegetable. Balbis banana grows in India, Sri Lanka and the Malay Archipelago.

Sycamore (plantains)

Plantain (from French plantain) or plane tree (from Spanish plátano) are rather large bananas, which are mainly (90%) eaten after heat treatment: they are fried in oil, boiled, baked in batter, steamed or made of which are chips. The peel of the plane tree is also used as food. Although there are types of plane trees that, when fully ripe, become softer, sweeter and edible even without prior heat treatment. The color of the sycamore skin can be green or yellow (although they are usually sold greenish), ripe sycamore has a black skin.

Plantains differ from dessert bananas in their thicker skin, as well as tougher and almost unsweetened pulp with a high starch content. Sycamore varieties have found application both in the human menu and in agriculture where they are used as livestock feed. In many countries of the Caribbean, Africa, India and South America, dishes made from plane trees are served as side dishes for meat and fish or as a completely independent dish. Usually they are generously flavored with salt, herbs and hot chili peppers.

Types of plane trees intended for heat treatment are divided into 4 groups, in each of which different varieties are distinguished:

• French plane trees: varieties ‘Obino l’Ewai’ (Nigeria), ‘Nendran’ (India), ‘Dominico’ (Colombia).
• French horn-shaped plane trees: varieties ‘Batard’ (Cameroon), ‘Mbang Okon’ (Nigeria).
• False horn-shaped sycamores: varieties ‘Agbagda’ and ‘Orishele’ (Nigeria), ‘Dominico-Harton’ (Colombia).
• Horn-shaped plane trees: varieties ‘Ishitim’ (Nigeria), ‘Pisang Tandok’ (Malaysia).

Below is a description of several varieties of platano:

• Ground banana (banana da terra)

grows mainly in Brazil. The length of the fetus often reaches 25-27 cm, and the weight is 400-500 grams. The peel is ribbed, thick, and the flesh has an orange tint. Raw, platano is slightly astringent in taste, but after cooking it acquires excellent taste characteristics. The leader among plane trees in terms of the content of vitamins of groups A and C.

• Plantain Burro (Burro, Orinoco, Horse, Hog)

herbaceous plant of medium height, resistant to cold. Sycamore fruits 13-15 cm long, enclosed in a trihedral peel. The pulp is dense, with a lemon flavor, raw edible only when overripe, so the variety is usually fried or baked.

plant with large fruits up to 20 cm in length. The peel is greenish, slightly rough to the touch, thick. In its raw form, it is inedible due to its strongly astringent taste, but it is great for cooking all kinds of dishes: chips, vegetable stews, mashed potatoes. This type of plane tree grows in India, where it is in unprecedented demand among buyers in ordinary fruit shops.

To the question What family does the banana belong to? given by the author Ignat filipov the best answer is It belongs to the banana family .... But in fact, it's just a grass, nothing more .... Only tropical... That is why the fruits are so large .... Can you imagine our herbs in the middle lane? You can also eat them, tops .... And very tasty, I dare to assure you ... It's just a little... :))))

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

Hello! Here is a selection of topics with answers to your question: What family does a banana belong to?

Answer from Help[guru]
banana family .... the closest relatives of the shkurkins ....

Answer from big drum[guru]
BANANA (Musa), a genus of large tropical perennial herbs of the banana family (Musaceae), numbering approx. 300 species and taxa of a lower rank, a number of which are widely bred for edible berry-like fruits, reaching a length of 20 cm. When mature, the fruits are covered with a thick yellow peel with brown spots. Their flesh is creamy, easy to digest, rich in carbohydrates and contains relatively many vitamins A, B and C.

Answer from chevron[guru]
To the family "below the belt" =)))

Answer from Whiz[guru]
Scientific classificationKingdom: PlantsDepartment: AngiospermsClass: MonocotsOrder: GingerFamily: BananasGenus: BananaBanana (lat. Musa) is a genus of perennial herbaceous plants of the Banana family, whose homeland is the tropics of Southeast Asia (SEA) and, in particular, the Malay Archipelago. Bananas are also called the fruits of these plants, eaten. Various varieties of the sterile triploid cultigen Musa × paradisiaca (an artificial species not found in the wild) based on some species of these plants are now widely cultivated in tropical countries and in many of them constitute a major export share. The banana is the fourth largest cultivated crop in the world, behind only rice, wheat and corn. The genus unites over 40 species, distributed mainly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. The northernmost species - Japanese banana (Musa basjoo), originally from the Japanese Ryukyu Islands, is grown as an ornamental plant on the Black Sea coast of the Caucasus, in the Crimea and Georgia. Description Banana is a herbaceous plant with a powerful root system, a short stem that does not protrude above the ground and -20 leaves, the sheaths of which form a semblance of a trunk. Plant height varies from 2 to 9 m and even higher, which makes them one of the tallest (along with bamboos) grasses in the world; and it is not surprising that many mistake them for trees. Musa itinerans is considered the tallest plant of the banana genus - the height of its variety Musa itinerans var. gigantea can reach 12 m. A lot of side shoots form around the main stem, one of which subsequently replaces the previous one - this is how reproduction occurs. Roots numerous, fibrous; in noble soil they go up to 4.9 m to the side and up to 1.5 m deep. The leaves are large, soft, smooth, oblong or oval, with parallel venation; arranged in a spiral. Their vaginas are coiled into a dense, multi-layered, fleshy tube called a false stalk. As the plant grows, young leaves appear inside the bundle, and the outer ones gradually die off and fall off. Weather permitting, this process continues at a rate of approximately one leaf per week. Cultivated banana leaves are up to 275 cm long and 60 cm wide and can be completely green, green with maroon spots, or green on the upper side and crimson underneath. In strong winds or heavy rain, the leaves are easily torn along the veins - this adaptation helps plants survive in tropical climates. When the banana is ready to bloom, a long peduncle develops at the point of growth of the short stem, which passes through the false stem and goes out after the leaves. Flowering occurs 8-10 months after the active growth of the plant. The inflorescence is a brush resembling an elongated lush bud of a purple or green hue, on which large female flowers are located at the base, then smaller bisexual flowers, and at the end there are small male flowers. All flowers are tubular, consisting of 3 petals, 3 sepals, usually 6 stamens, one of which is underdeveloped and has no anther. Gynoecium syncarpous, consisting of 3 carpels, forming a three-chambered ovary; the flowers are arranged in tiers (the so-called "hands") and contain a large amount of nectar (up to 0.5 g per flower. Each layer is collected in a brush, consisting of 12-20 flowers arranged radially, and covered with fleshy, waxy to the touch In cultivated bananas, the flowers are white, the outer coverts are purple and the inside are dark red. Once opened, male flowers usually fall very quickly, leaving the upper part of the inflorescence bare, with the exception of the apical unopened bud. In wild-growing species, flowering begins at night or early in the morning - in the first case, bats contribute to their pollination, and in the second - birds and small mammals.

How Bananas Grow December 23rd, 2012

Grass, that is! It is hard for a resident of central Russia, who is accustomed to look for strawberries and lingonberries in a forest ant, three or four meters high, on the stalk of which hang three hundred "berries" weighing half a centner. In addition, the diameter of the "grass" in a good dozen centimeters. From above, it ends with a spreading panicle of oblong leaves (which is why the reaction of a European is unambiguous: a palm tree). From the rosette of leaves hangs from top to bottom something like a one and a half meter long trunk.

Bananas do not have a trunk (like trees) - they don’t even have a normal stem. Its stem is more like a tuber and is almost invisible above the ground. But there are huge leaves - fans, up to 6 m long and up to a meter wide.

250-300 small bananas are tied on the inflorescence. The proboscis is properly called a "bunch", and what we buy and call clusters are actually brushes of four to seven fused fruits. A real banana bunch is a lot of brushes, closely adjacent to each other. Bananas have been known to mankind since ancient times.

Their homeland is called the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, mainly India and China. At least in these countries, bananas have long been considered sacred fruits that restore strength and nourish the mind. Some of the Indian pagodas that have survived from that time have roofs that exactly repeat the shape of a banana: it was so respected. From India and China, banana culture spread to Asia Minor.

Later, they began to be grown on the east and west coasts of Africa. In the 16th century, they were brought to the Canary Islands, to Central and South America. The countries there have received, it turns out, banana plantations are the last in the world, and they are the best in growing and selling them: Ecuador, Colombia, Panama supply all of Europe with bananas. If earlier we ate - it is clear why - exclusively Cuban varieties, now we are also full-fledged Europeans: most of all in our market are Ecuadorian fruits.

A few words about how bananas are harvested. As soon as the ovaries on the bunches begin to form, a polyethylene cover is urgently pulled over it so that, God forbid, nothing sits on the ripening fruits. So they grow under caps, protected from tropical insects, for eleven weeks. They do not reach full ripeness, but they should be taken to another continent!

At this stage, the harvest time comes. Nothing has changed over the centuries: as great-grandfathers and grandfathers harvested, they do it now. The worker, holding a long pole with a powerful cleaver screwed to the end, approaches the trunk and, deftly poking at the height, cuts off a huge bunch. And how it rustles down ... (I see that our people, who give the weekend to six hundred square meters, have already shuddered: an apple or a pear will fall - it’s a pity that it will remain! And then fifty kilograms of banana tenderness crash to the ground ?!)

So they were scared in vain - centuries-old experience teaches: no best place landing for a bunch than the shoulders and back of the second worker, specially standing next to him. Having cheerfully depreciated, he drags the crop to the warehouse on himself. There, the bunches will be disassembled into small pieces, thrown into tanks with a special liquid for greater disinfection and long-term preservation, and then they will be caught, dried, wrapped in polyethylene, packed in branded boxes, and they will go by sea, rarely by plane, to other countries. And the "trunk" from which the bunch was cut is no longer a tenant. Dries up.

Grass is grass. But new “blades of grass” are already climbing into the light of God from the rhizome from the earth. True, they grow to maturity for a whole year. And they will also bring only one bunch each, but the renewal process on the plantations is continuous. How continuous the harvest is in a warm climate: some bunches are cut, others ripen, others are tied ... In a word, long live the eternal tropical summer! And let the bananas on our table not disappear!

At night, banana flowers are visited by bats, and during the day numerous insects, nectary birds and squirrel-like animals - tupai, which are distant relatives of monkeys, visit. Bananas generously treat all visitors with nectar. After pollination, the covering leaves fall off, and fruits begin to set in place of the flowers. There are so many lateral inflorescences on one peduncle that when the last covering leaves begin to open at its end, the fruits at the base are already ripening.

The yellow, sickle-shaped fruit of a banana bears little resemblance to a berry*, but from a botanist's point of view, a banana is a berry with a leathery shell and sweet pulp, in which numerous seeds are immersed (if you cut a banana, you can see small black dots inside).

I must say that not all types of bananas have the same fruits that we can buy in our markets and stores. Some fruits are shorter, some are oval or almost round, some are longer and thinner. When ripe, the peel sometimes does not turn yellow, but turns red. But such bananas are not delivered to us - they do not tolerate transportation well.

After fruiting, the entire huge aerial part of the plant dies off, but underground shoots have already started growing from the base of the false stem, which will give rise to new false stems. So, in a vegetative way, a banana multiplies.

A green banana has the consistency of a potato and yet tastes highly astringent and resinous - completely inedible. Bananas are harvested by completely cutting down a thick grassy trunk, with one blow of a sickle - the second time the same shoot (what is incorrectly called a palm tree in Russia) does not bear fruit. Then a bunch is cut off from the trunk and put to ripen. A few days after the harvest, green bananas ripen and become familiar to us yellow. The sale of green bananas is widespread.

Banana came to us from Malaysia, where it has been grown for 10 thousand years. Wild bananas, which can still be found in Southeast Asia, contain large, hard seeds and very little pulp. They are pollinated by bats.

The bananas in your supermarket are a cultivar chosen by growers for their fleshy flesh and lack of seeds. Cultivation gave the plant a sweet, tasty, but sterile: such a banana is not able to reproduce without human help.

Most banana plants haven't had "sex" for 10,000 years. Almost every one of the bananas that we eat with such pleasure is propagated by hand: from the shoot of an already existing plant, whose genetic fund has not been updated for 100 centuries. As a result, the banana is extremely susceptible to various kinds of diseases. Many of its species have already fallen victim to fungal infections such as "black sigatoka" and "Panama disease", which are very resistant to fungicides. And if a genetically modified variety is not developed soon, we can forget about bananas forever.

The problem, by the way, is very serious. Bananas are the world's most profitable export crop. The industry is worth $12 billion a year and supports 400 million people, many of whom live below the poverty line.

Most bananas come from hot countries, however, paradoxically, Iceland is the largest European banana producer. Bananas are grown in spacious greenhouses heated by geothermal waters, just two degrees south of the Arctic Circle.

"Fyffe" s, a multinational importing company that annually buys the entire banana crop in Belize, is Irish.

With the same mass, dried bananas contain 5 times more calories than fresh bananas.

India produces more bananas than any other country in the world.

Sprinter Linford Christie, an Olympic gold medalist, includes fried plantin in his diet before competition or training.

In East Africa, bananas are fermented to make beer.

Banana fruits are consumed raw, fried, boiled. Soups, pastries, desserts, main dishes are prepared from bananas. But special varieties of bananas are fried and boiled. Those bananas that we eat are bred by crossing different types bananas.

Bananas are not only eaten. Black dye is made from banana peel; leaves are used for baking, instead of foil and baking paper; light buildings and rafts are made from stems; leaves are used to make packages.

Banana is widely used in medicine. Fruits help in the fight against high blood pressure, anemia, heartburn, depression. In the treatment of stomach ulcers, dysentery, bronchitis, diabetes, banana flowers are used. They are brewed and drunk like tea. Burns are well healed by young banana leaves, like our plantain.