Musa spp.

Banana

About

The banana (Musa spp.) is a nutritious fruit that grows from various large, herbaceaous flowering plants belonging to the genus Musa. Botanically speaking the fruit is a berry and it varies in colour, size and firmness. Bananas mostly are elongated and curved. Its flesh is soft, rich in starch and its skin (usually easy to peel) can be green or yellow, or red, purple or brown when ripe. Bananas grow in bunches downwards from the top of the plant. Nowadays, almost all edible, seedless (parthenocarpic) bananas derive from only two different, wild species; Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Bananas used for cooking are also called plantains, contrast to dessert bananas.