Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to soft, sweet "dessert" bananas. By contrast, Musa cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains. Many varieties of bananas are perennial. Refer to the Musa article for a list of the varieties of bananas and plantains.

They are native to tropical Southeast Asia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea.[1] Today, they are cultivated throughout the tropics.[2] They are grown in at least 107 countries,[3] primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine and as ornamental plants.

Although fruit of wild species (Musa balbisiana) have large, hard seeds, virtually all culinary bananas are "seedless", have only tiny seeds[citation needed]. Bananas are classified either as dessert bananas (meaning they are yellow and fully ripe when eaten) or as green cooking bananas.

Almost all export bananas are of the dessert types; however, only about 10–15% of production is for export. The United States and European Union are the dominant importers.[citation needed]

Bananas are naturally slightly radioactive,[4] more so than most other fruits, because of their high potassium content, and the small amounts of the isotope potassium-40 found in naturally occurring potassium. Proponents of nuclear power sometimes refer to the banana equivalent dose of radiation to support their arguments.[5][6] Banana shipments often set off the radiation monitors installed at US ports to detect illegal shipments of radiologic materials.

Contents [hide]
1 Botany
2 Taxonomy
3 Food and cooking
3.1 The fruit
3.2 The flower
3.3 The trunk
3.4 The leaves
3.5 Health benefits
4 Fibre
4.1 Textiles
4.2 Paper
5 Cultural roles
5.1 Arts
5.2 Symbols
5.3 Religion
5.4 East Africa
6 Other uses
7 History
7.1 Early cultivation
7.2 Plantation cultivation
8 Modern cultivation
8.1 Cavendish
8.2 Ripening
9 Storage and transport
10 Trade
11 Pests, diseases, and natural disasters
11.1 Panama Disease
11.2 Tropical Race 4
11.3 Black Sigatoka
11.3.1 In East Africa
11.4 Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV)
12 Gallery
13 See also
14 Footnotes
15 References
16 Further reading
17 External links

Botany

Banana 'tree' (Musa sapientum) from 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
Left to right: Plantains, red bananas, Bananitos (apple bananas), Cavendish bananasBanana, raw, edible parts Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 371 kJ (89 kcal)
Carbohydrates 22.84 g
Sugars 12.23 g
Dietary fiber 2.6 g
Fat 0.33 g
Protein 1.09 g
Vitamin A equiv. 3 μg (0%)
Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.031 mg (2%)
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.073 mg (5%)
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.665 mg (4%)
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.334 mg (7%)
Vitamin B6 0.367 mg (28%)
Folate (Vit. B9) 20 μg (5%)
Vitamin C 8.7 mg (15%)
Calcium 5 mg (1%)
Iron 0.26 mg (2%)
Magnesium 27 mg (7%)
Phosphorus 22 mg (3%)
Potassium 358 mg (8%)
Zinc 0.15 mg (1%)
One banana is 100–150 g.
Percentages are relative to US recommendations for adults.
Source: USDA Nutrient database


M. acuminata x balbisiana inflorescence, partially opened.
Banana blossoms coming out of a banana heart.
Banana flowers and leaves for sale at Thanin market in Chiang Mai, ThailandThe banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.[7] Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy and are often mistaken for trees, but their main or upright stem is actually a pseudostem that grows 6 to 7.6 metres (20 to 24.9 ft) tall, growing from a corm. Each pseudostem can produce a single bunch of bananas. After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots may develop from the base of the plant.

Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide.[8] They are easily torn by the wind, resulting in the familiar frond look.[9]

Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the banana heart. (More are sometimes produced; an exceptional plant in the Philippines produced five.)[10] The inflorescence contains many bracts (sometimes incorrectly called petals) between rows of flowers. The female flowers (that can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior, meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary.

Banana fruit develop from the banana heart, in a large hanging cluster, made up of tiers (called hands) with up to 20 fruit to a tier. The hanging cluster is known as a bunch, comprising 3–20 tiers, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kilograms (66–110 lb). In common usage, bunch applies to part of a tier containing 3-10 adjacent fruits.

Individual banana fruits (commonly known as a banana or 'finger'), average 125 grams (0.28 lb), of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter. There is an protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (the phloem bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner portion. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety splits easily lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels.

The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".[11] In cultivated varieties, the seeds are diminished nearly to non-existence; their remnants are tiny black specks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana