Banana
Family Musaceae
Musa sapientum (= Musa paradisiaca var. sapientum), the banana (M. sapientum 1), is a large herb, up to several meters high, with pseudostems of sheaths (M. sapientum 2). The leaves are spirally arranged, new ones tightly rolled and pushed up through the pseudostem. Each leaf has a large oblong lamina with a stout midrib and numerous parallel veins extending to the margin. A pseudostem produces up to 50 leaves, of which 10-15 functioning. Whenever a new leaf is formed, an old one dies. The inflorescence (M. sapientum 4) (M. sapientum 14) is terminal, emerging in the centre of the leaf crown. Usually the peduncle becomes pendent. On the peduncle the flowers are arranged in clusters in two rows on transverse cushions, each subtended by a large bract (M. sapientum 5), often reddish in colour. Up to 20 flowers are produced per node, the basal nodes bearing female ones, the upper nodes the male ones. The bracts are normally deciduous and fall before the flowers, which remain open for one day (M. sapientum 6). As the bracts and flowers open in sequence, the peduncle elongates (M. sapientum 7), until a structure of 1-1.5 m long has developed, consisting of hands of fruits at the basal end, followed by a bare axis from which the male flowers and bracts have fallen, and at the end the growing point with bracts and male flowers (M. sapientum 8). Male flowers are about 6 cm long with 5 stamens; female flowers are about 10 cm long with a well-developed inferior ovary. Usually the flowers are sterile and in the cultivated bananas (M. sapientum 9) no seeds are produced. The ovules shrivel and are seen in fruits as small brown spots. Female flowers developing without fertilisation, resulting in the production of fruits without seeds is called parthenocarpy.
The fruit bunch is called a ‘stem’, each cluster of fruits at a node is a ‘hand’, and the individual fruits are called ‘fingers’. A bunch contains 5-15 hands (M. sapientum 10), each with 5-20 fingers. Size, shape, skin colour, flavour and texture of the flesh is very variable (M. sapientum 11), (M. sapientum 12), (M. sapientum 13).
All propagation is by means of suckers (M. sapientum 3). From planting to harvesting it takes 9-18 months, depending on the local conditions. After fruiting the stem is usually cut down. Meanwhile the rhizome has produced suckers, so the process of growing continues indefinitely. The whole group of stems arising from one rhizome is called a ‘stool’. In commercial cultivation a stool is kept in existence for a period of up to 20 years.
Edible bananas are derived from the wild Musa acuminata (M. sapientum 14) from the Malaysian region. In this species fruits develop without pollination. Human selection resulted in a productive crop, which was taken to areas with other wild species, like Musa balbisiana, occurring from India to the Philippines and New Guinea. This resulted in a great number of hybrids, which were distributed in a vegetative state. Early Polynesians took them to the Pacific and it is believed that the banana reached Africa via Madagascar from India about the 5th century AD. The Portuguese reported its presence in West Africa in the 15th century and they took it to the Canary Islands. During the voyages of discovery the banana reached the New World. In 1516 it reached Haiti, and from there it spread rapidly over the West Indies and tropical South America, where most of the bananas exported to temperate countries are now produced. In classical times the banana was unknown in the Mediterranean region. The Arabs, who called them ‘mouz’, from which the name Musa is derived, knew bananas. The banana is the ‘tree of knowledge’ of the bible, and the ‘tree of paradise’ of the koran. In the Middle Ages bananas were called ‘figs’, later the Portuguese introduced the name banana. Nowadays bananas are grown between 30 degrees N and S of the equator (M. sapientum 15), (M. sapientum 16).
Bananas are the most important of the tropical fruits; their production is only second to grapes. Ripe bananas are easily digestible and provide a sugary and starchy food and contain a fair amount of vitamins A and C. Unripe fruits are cooked and provide a food which is nutritionally similar to potatoes. This is the staple food in East Africa, especially in Uganda, where it is known as ‘matoke’. Here also large quantities of beer are made from bananas. International trade was set going after the large-scale plantings in Costa Rica started in 1874. Gradually tropical America became the most important producer to supply the European and American market.
Most imported bananas are used as dessert fruits and are eaten raw. This export is a highly specialised trade, using specially equipped ships owned by large companies. There is also a small production of dried bananas and of banana flour, both products used in the confectionery trade. In Southeast Asia the male buds are eaten as a boiled vegetable. Everywhere in the tropics the leaves are used as plate, umbrella and packing material. Dried sheaths, leaves and petioles are used for thatching, as tying material and for pads used in carrying head-loads. Sometimes bananas are used as shade plants for cocoa and coffee. The chopped pseudostems can be fed to livestock.
About 5 million tons of bananas enter international trade per annum, of which three-quarters is produced in Central and South America. On the best plantations the average yield is 50 ton per hectare, world average is about 14 tons. Largest producers are Honduras, Ecuador, Panama, Colombia and Brazil. Other important producing countries are India, Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. The Canary Islands are exporting bananas to Europe since 1822. Some European countries import mainly from their former colonies, like France importing from Ivory Coast and Italy from Somalia.