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|description= A banana is an elongated, edible fruit—botanically a berry—produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa . In
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{{short description|Tropical, edible, staple fruit}}
{{other uses}}
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{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox botanical product
|product  = Banana
|image    = [[File:Bananavarieties.jpg|250px]]
|caption  = Fruits of four different cultivars. Left to right: plantain, red banana, apple banana, and Cavendish banana
|plant    = ''Musa''
|part     = Fruit
|uses     = Food
}}

A '''banana''' is an elongated, edible fruit—botanically a berry<ref name="Morton-2013"/>—produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from '''dessert bananas'''. The fruit is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel, which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – ''Musa acuminata'' and ''Musa balbisiana'', or hybrids of them.

''Musa'' species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia; they were probably domesticated in New Guinea. They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make banana paper and textiles, while some are grown as ornamental plants. The world's largest producers of bananas in 2022 were India and China, which together accounted for approximately 26% of total production.<!--<ref name="FAOSTAT-2022"/>--> Bananas are eaten raw or cooked in recipes varying from curries to banana chips, fritters, fruit preserves, or simply baked or steamed.

Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between dessert "bananas" and cooking "plantains": this distinction works well enough in the Americas and Europe, but it breaks down in Southeast Asia where many more kinds of bananas are grown and eaten. The term "banana" is applied also to other members of the genus ''Musa'', such as the scarlet banana (''Musa coccinea''), the pink banana (''Musa velutina''), and the Fe'i bananas. Members of the genus ''Ensete'', such as the snow banana (''Ensete glaucum'') and the economically important false banana (''Ensete ventricosum'') of Africa are sometimes included. Both genera are in the banana family, Musaceae.

Banana plantations are subject to damage by parasitic nematodes and insect pests, and to fungal and bacterial diseases, one of the most serious being Panama disease which is caused by a ''Fusarium'' fungus. This and black sigatoka threaten the production of Cavendish bananas, the main kind eaten in the Western world, which is a triploid ''Musa acuminata''. Plant breeders are seeking new varieties, but these are difficult to breed given that commercial varieties are seedless. To enable future breeding, banana germplasm is conserved in multiple gene banks around the world.

== Description ==

The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant.<ref name="INIBAP-2000">{{cite book |date=2000 |editor-last=Picq |editor-first=Claudine |editor2-last=INIBAP |title=Bananas |edition=English |location=Montpellier |publisher=International Network for the Improvement of Banana and Plantains/International Plant Genetic Resources Institute |isbn=978-2-910810-37-5 |url=http://www.musalit.org/pdf/info09.1_en.pdf |access-date=January 31, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130411222515/http://www.musalit.org/pdf/info09.1_en.pdf |archive-date=April 11, 2013  }}</ref> All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure called a corm.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|pp=5–17}} Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy with a treelike appearance, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a pseudostem composed of multiple leaf-stalks (petioles). Bananas grow in a wide variety of soils, as long as it is at least {{convert|60|cm|ft}} deep, has good drainage and is not compacted.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|p=212}} They are fast-growing plants, with a growth rate of up to {{convert|1.6|m|ft}} per day.<ref>{{cite book |last=Flindt |first=Rainer |date=2006 |title=Amazing Numbers in Biology |location=Berlin |publisher=Springer Verlag |page=149 |url=https://archive.org/details/amazingnumbersin0000flin |url-access=registration |isbn=978-354030146-2}}</ref>

The leaves of banana plants are composed of a stalk (petiole) and a blade (lamina). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem, the edges are forced apart.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|pp=5–17}} Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around {{convert|5|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} tall, with a range from 'Dwarf Cavendish' plants at around {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} to 'Gros Michel' at {{convert|7|m|ft|abbr=on|0}} or more.<ref name="RHS-2023">{{cite web |title=Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish' (AAA Group) (F) |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/56394/musa-acuminata-dwarf-cavendish-(aaa-group)-(f)/details |publisher=Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=8 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423190414/https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/56394/musa-acuminata-dwarf-cavendish-(aaa-group)-(f)/details |archive-date=23 April 2023 |url-status=live |quote=Ultimate height 2.5–4 metres}}</ref><!--{{sfn|Nelson|Ploetz|Kepler|2006|p=26}}-->{{sfn|Ploetz|Kepler|Daniells|Nelson|2007|p=12}} Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow {{convert|2.7|m|ft}} long and {{convert|60|cm|ft|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name="Morton-2013"/> When a banana plant is mature, the corm stops producing new leaves and begins to form a flower spike or inflorescence. A stem develops which grows up inside the pseudostem, carrying the immature inflorescence until eventually it emerges at the top.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|pp=5–17}} Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the "banana heart". After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots will normally have developed from the base, so that the plant as a whole is perennial.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|pp=244–247}} The inflorescence contains many petal-like bracts between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem (closer to the leaves) 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.{{sfn|Office of the Gene Technology Regulator|2008}}

The banana fruits develop from the ''banana heart'', in a large hanging cluster called a ''bunch'', made up of around nine tiers called ''hands'', with up to 20 fruits to a hand. A bunch can weigh {{convert|22|–|65|kg|lb}}.<ref>{{cite web |title=Banana plant |url=https://www.britannica.com/plant/banana-plant |website=Britannica |access-date=12 March 2024}}</ref> The stalk ends of the fruits connect up to the rachis part of the inflorescence. Opposite the stalk end, is the blossom end, where the remnants of the flower deviate the texture from the rest of the flesh inside the peel.

The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry".<ref name="Smith-1977">{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=James P. |date=1977 |title=Vascular Plant Families |location=Eureka, California |publisher=Mad River Press |isbn=978-0-916422-07-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/vascularplantfam00smit }}</ref> There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings (Vascular bundles), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner white flesh. The peel is less palatable and usually discarded after peeling the fruit, optimally done from the blossom end, but often started from the stalk end. The inner part of the common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit.<ref name="Warkentin-2004">{{Cite web |last=Warkentin |first=Jon |year=2004 |title=How to make a Banana Split |publisher=University of Manitoba |url=http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/crystal/Grade%209/Cluster%201/S1-1-07%20-%20How%20to%20make%20a%20Banana%20Split%20-%20Demonstration%20and%20Investigation.doc |access-date=July 21, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140729203916/http://umanitoba.ca/outreach/crystal/Grade%209/Cluster%201/S1-1-07%20-%20How%20to%20make%20a%20Banana%20Split%20-%20Demonstration%20and%20Investigation.doc |archive-date=July 29, 2014}}</ref> In cultivated varieties, fertile seeds are usually absent.<ref name="Simmonds-1962">{{cite journal |first=N.W. |last=Simmonds |date=1962 |title=Where our bananas come from |journal=New Scientist |volume=16 |issue=307 |pages=36–39|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooQ6YhL3rtMC&pg=PA36 |access-date=June 11, 2011  |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130608124433/http://books.google.com/books?id=ooQ6YhL3rtMC&lpg=PA1&pg=PA36 |archive-date=June 8, 2013  }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=De Langhe |first1=Edmond |title=  Relevance of Banana Seeds in Archaeology|journal= Ethnobotany Research and Applications|date=30 July 2009 |volume=7 |pages=271–281 |doi=10.17348/era.7.0.271-281 |url=http://www.ethnobotanyjournal.org/vol7/i1547-3465-07-271.pdf}}<!--also at https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/12519/1/i1547-3465-07-271.pdf--></ref>

<gallery mode="packed">
File:Banana corm.jpg|A corm, about {{convert|25|cm|in|abbr=on|0}} across
File:Young Banana Sapling - Kerala - IMG 3447.jpg|Young plant
File:M. acuminata x balbisiana female flower detail.jpg|Female flowers have petals at the tip of the ovary
File:2018 06 TropicalIslands IMG 2170.jpg|'Tree' showing fruit and inflorescence
File:Banana single rows.jpg|Single row planting
File:M. acuminata x balbisiana.JPG|Inflorescence, partially opened
</gallery>

== Evolution ==

=== Phylogeny ===

A 2011 phylogenomic analysis using nuclear genes indicates the phylogeny of some representatives of the Musaceae family. Major edible kinds of banana are shown in '''boldface'''.<ref name="Christelová-2011">{{cite journal |last1=Christelová |first1=Pavla |last2=Valárik |first2=Miroslav |last3=Hřibová |first3=Eva |last4=De Langhe |first4=Edmond |last5=Doležel |first5=Jaroslav |title=A multi gene sequence-based phylogeny of the Musaceae (banana) family |journal=BMC Evolutionary Biology |volume=11 |issue=1 |date=2011 |page=103 |pmid=21496296 |pmc=3102628 |doi=10.1186/1471-2148-11-103 |doi-access=free|bibcode=2011BMCEE..11..103C }}</ref>

{{clade
|label1=''Musaceae''
|1={{clade
   |label1=''Musa''
   |1={{clade
      |label1=Clade I
      |1={{clade
         |1={{clade
            |1={{clade
               |1={{clade
                  |1=''Musa acuminata'' ssp. ''burmannica'', '''Banana'''<sup>‡</sup>, S. India to Cambodia
                  |2=''Musa ornata'', Flowering banana of Southeast Asia
                  }}
               |2=''Musa acuminata'' ssp. ''zebrina'', '''Blood banana''' of Sumatra
               }}
            |2=''Musa mannii'', a wild banana of Arunachal Pradesh, India
            }}
         |2=''Musa balbisiana'', '''Plantain''' of South, East, and Southeast Asia
         }}
      |label2=Clade II
      |2={{clade
         |1={{clade
            |1={{clade
               |1={{clade
                  |1=''Musa x troglodytarum'', Fe'i banana of French Polynesia
                  |2=''Musa maclayi'' of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands
                  }}
               |2=''Musa textilis'', Abacá or Manila hemp of the Philippines
               }}
            |2=''Musa beccarii'', a wild banana of Sabah
            }}
         |2=''Musa coccinea'', Scarlet banana of China and Vietnam
         }}
      }}
   |2=''Musella lasiocarpa'', Golden lotus banana of China
   |3=''Ensete ventricosum'', Enset or false banana of Africa
   }}
}}

:<sup>‡</sup> <small>Many cultivated bananas are hybrids of ''M. acuminata'' x ''M. balbisiana'' (not shown in tree).<ref name="World Checklist of Selected Plant Families"/></small>

Work by Li and colleagues in 2024 identifies three subspecies of ''M. acuminata'', namely sspp. ''banksii'', ''malaccensis'', and ''zebrina'', as contributing substantially to the ''Ban'', ''Dh'', and ''Ze'' subgenomes of triploid cultivated bananas respectively.<ref name="Li-2024">{{cite journal |last1=Li |first1=Xiuxiu |last2=Yu |first2=Sheng |last3=Cheng |first3=Zhihao |last4=Chang |first4=Xiaojun |last5=Yun |first5=Yingzi |last6=Jiang |first6=Mengwei |last7=Chen |first7=Xuequn |last8=Wen |first8=Xiaohui |last9=Li |first9=Hua |last10=Zhu |first10=Wenjun |last11=Xu |first11=Shiyao |last12=Xu |first12=Yanbing |last13=Wang |first13=Xianjun |last14=Zhang |first14=Chen |last15=Wu |first15=Qiong |last16=Hu |first16=Jin |last17=Lin |first17=Zhenguo |last18=Aury |first18=Jean-Marc |last19=Van de Peer |first19=Yves |last20=Wang |first20=Zonghua |last21=Zhou |first21=Xiaofan |last22=Wang |first22=Jihua |last23=Lü |first23=Peitao |last24=Zhang |first24=Liangsheng |display-authors=6 |title=Origin and evolution of the triploid cultivated banana genome |journal=Nature Genetics |volume=56 |issue=1 |year=2024 |doi=10.1038/s41588-023-01589-3 |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376411731_Origin_and_evolution_of_the_triploid_cultivated_banana_genome<!--NOT redundant to DOI--> |pages=136–142|pmid=38082204 |hdl=1854/LU-01HHJ2ZMPK1880RM96GMJWM4SQ |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

=== Taxonomy ===

{{further|List of banana cultivars}}

[[File:Nedravazhakola.jpg|right|thumb|''Musa'' 'Nendran' cultivar, grown widely in the Indian state of Kerala ]]

The genus ''Musa'' was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753.<ref name="Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew">{{Cite web |title=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:327926-2  |access-date=January 6, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325134327/https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:327926-2 |archive-date=25 March 2023 }}</ref> The name may be derived from Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus, or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, ''mauz''.<ref name="Hyam-1995">{{Cite book |last1=Hyam |first1=R. |last2=Pankhurst |first2=R.J. |date=1995 |title=Plants and their names : a concise dictionary |location=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-866189-4 |page=329}}</ref> The ultimate origin of ''musa'' may be in the Trans–New Guinea languages, which have words similar to "#muku"; from there the name was borrowed into the Austronesian languages and across Asia, accompanying the cultivation of the banana as it was brought to new areas, via the Dravidian languages of India, into Arabic as a ''Wanderwort''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Schapper |first=Antoinette |chapter=Farming and the Trans-New Guinea family |editor1-last=Robbeets |editor1-first=Martine |editor2-last=Savelyev |editor2-first=Alexander |title=Language dispersal beyond farming |year=2017 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |pages=155–181 |isbn=978-90-272-1255-9 |url=https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/29648/9789027264640.pdf?sequence=1#page=170}} which (p. 169) cites {{cite journal |last=Blench |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Blench |title=Things your classics master never told you: a borrowing from Trans New Guinea languages into Latin |url=https://www.academia.edu/25619010 |website=Academia.edu |date=2016}}</ref> The word "banana" is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word {{lang|wo|banaana}}, and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese.<ref name="OnlineEtymologyDictionary">{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana |title=Banana |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=August 5, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728085438/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=banana |archive-date=July 28, 2011  }}</ref>

''Musa'' is the type genus in the family Musaceae. The APG III system assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales, part of the commelinid clade of the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some 70 species of ''Musa'' were recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families {{as of|2013|January|lc=yes}};<ref name="Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew"/> several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals.<ref name="Bailey-1916">{{cite book |first=Liberty Hyde |last=Bailey |title=The Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture |date=1916 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZMDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2076 |pages=2076–2079 |publisher=Macmillan |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222184837/https://books.google.com/books?id=uZMDAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2076 |archive-date=February 22, 2017  }}</ref>

The classification of cultivated bananas has long been a problematic issue for taxonomists. Linnaeus originally placed bananas into two species based only on their uses as food: ''Musa sapientum'' for dessert bananas and ''Musa paradisiaca'' for plantains. More species names were added, but this approach proved to be inadequate for the number of cultivars in the primary center of diversity of the genus, Southeast Asia. Many of these cultivars were given names that were later discovered to be synonyms.{{sfn|Valmayor|Jamaluddin|Silayoi|Kusumo|2000}}

In a series of papers published from 1947 onward, Ernest Cheesman showed that Linnaeus's ''Musa sapientum'' and ''Musa paradisiaca'' were cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species, ''Musa acuminata'' and ''Musa balbisiana'', both first described by Luigi Aloysius Colla.<ref name="Stover-1987">{{harvnb|Stover|Simmonds|1987|loc=Chapter 4 (genomic classification)}}</ref> Cheesman recommended the abolition of Linnaeus's species in favor of reclassifying bananas according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of ''Musa balbisiana'', those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of ''Musa acuminata'', and those with characteristics of both.{{sfn|Valmayor|Jamaluddin|Silayoi|Kusumo|2000}} Researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed a genome-based nomenclature system in 1955. This system eliminated almost all the difficulties and inconsistencies of the earlier classification of bananas based on assigning scientific names to cultivated varieties. Despite this, the original names are still recognized by some authorities, leading to confusion.<ref name="Stover-1987"/><ref name="Porcher-2002">{{cite web |url=http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Musa.html |title=Sorting Musa names |first=Michel H. |last=Porcher |date=July 19, 2002 |publisher=The University of Melbourne |access-date=January 11, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302130718/http://www.plantnames.unimelb.edu.au/Sorting/Musa.html |archive-date=March 2, 2011  }}</ref>

The accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are ''Musa acuminata'' <small>Colla</small> and ''Musa balbisiana'' <small>Colla</small> for the ancestral species, and ''Musa'' × ''paradisiaca'' <small>L.</small> for the hybrid of the two.<ref name="World Checklist of Selected Plant Families">{{Cite web |title=''Musa paradisiaca'' |website=World Checklist of Selected Plant Families |publisher=Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |url=http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=254888 |access-date=January 6, 2013 |archive-date=April 29, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429155616/http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=254888 |url-status=live }}</ref>

An unusual feature of the genetics of the banana is that chloroplast DNA is inherited maternally, while mitochondrial DNA is inherited paternally. This facilitates taxonomic study of species and subspecies relationships.<ref name="Donohue-2010">{{cite journal |last1=Donohue |first1=Mark |last2=Denham |first2=Tim |title=Farming and Language in Island Southeast Asia: Reframing Austronesian History |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=51 |issue=2 |year=2010 |doi=10.1086/650991 |pages=223–256}}</ref>

=== Informal classification ===

In regions such as North America and Europe, ''Musa'' fruits offered for sale can be divided into small sweet "bananas" eaten raw when ripe as a dessert, and large starchy "plantains" or cooking bananas, which do not have to be ripe. Linnaeus made this distinction when naming two "species" of ''Musa''.{{sfn|Valmayor|Jamaluddin|Silayoi|Kusumo|2000|p=2}} Members of the "plantain subgroup" of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to this description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas.{{sfn|Ploetz|Kepler|Daniells|Nelson|2007|pp=18–19}}

The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas.{{sfn|Ploetz|Kepler|Daniells|Nelson|2007|p=12}} Further, small farmers in Colombia grow a much wider range of cultivars than large commercial plantations do,<ref name="Gibert-2009">{{Cite journal |last1=Gibert |first1=Olivier |last2=Dufour |first2=Dominique |last3=Giraldo |first3=Andrés |last4=Sánchez |first4=Teresa |last5=Reynes |first5=Max |last6=Pain |first6=Jean-Pierre |last7=González |first7=Alonso |last8=Fernández |first8=Alejandro |last9=Díaz |first9=Alberto |display-authors=6 |date=2009 |title=Differentiation between Cooking Bananas and Dessert Bananas. 1. Morphological and Compositional Characterization of Cultivated Colombian Musaceae (''Musa'' sp.) in Relation to Consumer Preferences |journal=Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry |volume=57 |issue=17 |pages=7857–7869 |doi=10.1021/jf901788x |pmid=19691321|bibcode=2009JAFC...57.7857G }}</ref> and in Southeast Asia—the center of diversity for bananas, both wild and cultivated—the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" does not work. Many bananas are used both raw and cooked. There are starchy cooking bananas which are smaller than those eaten raw. The range of colors, sizes and shapes is far wider than in those grown or sold in Africa, Europe or the Americas.{{sfn|Valmayor|Jamaluddin|Silayoi|Kusumo|2000|p=2}} Southeast Asian languages do not make the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" that is made in English. Thus both Cavendish dessert bananas and Saba cooking bananas are called ''pisang'' in Malaysia and Indonesia, ''kluai'' in Thailand and ''chuối'' in Vietnam.{{sfn|Valmayor|Jamaluddin|Silayoi|Kusumo|2000|pp=8–12}} Fe'i bananas, grown and eaten in the islands of the Pacific, are derived from a different wild species. Most Fe'i bananas are cooked, but Karat bananas, which are short and squat with bright red skins, are eaten raw.<ref name="Englberger-2003">{{Cite journal |last=Englberger |first=Lois |year=2003 |title=Carotenoid-rich bananas in Micronesia |journal=InfoMusa |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=2–5 |url=http://www.musalit.org/pdf/IN040501_en.pdf |access-date=January 22, 2013  |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309162345/http://www.musalit.org/pdf/in040501_en.pdf |archive-date=March 9, 2016 }}</ref>

== History ==

[[File:Banana ancestors (Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana) original range.png|thumb|Original native ranges of the ancestors of modern edible bananas. ''Musa acuminata'' (green), ''Musa balbisiana'' (orange)<ref name="de Langhe-2004">{{cite book |chapter=Tracking the banana: its significance in early agriculture |first1=Edmond |last1=de Langhe |first2=Pierre |last2=de Maret |editor1-first=Jon G. |editor1-last=Hather |title=The Prehistory of Food: Appetites for Change |publisher=Routledge |date=2004 |page=372 |isbn=978-0-203-20338-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMgKW9HleFoC&pg=PA372 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222225618/https://books.google.com/books?id=DMgKW9HleFoC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA372 |archive-date=February 22, 2017  }}</ref>]]

=== Domestication ===

{{See also|Musa acuminata|Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia|East African Highland bananas}}

[[File:Inside a wild-type banana.jpg|thumb|Fruits of wild-type bananas have numerous large, hard seeds.|alt=Photo of two cross-sectional halves of seed-filled fruit.]]

The earliest domestication of bananas (''Musa'' spp.) was from naturally occurring parthenocarpic (seedless) individuals of ''Musa banksii'' in New Guinea. These were cultivated by Papuans before the arrival of Austronesian-speakers. Numerous phytoliths of bananas have been recovered from the Kuk Swamp archaeological site and dated to around 10,000 to 6,500 BP.<ref name="Denham2011">{{cite journal |last1=Denham |first1=Tim |title=Early Agriculture and Plant Domestication in New Guinea and Island Southeast Asia |journal=Current Anthropology|date=October 2011 |volume=52 |issue=S4 |pages=S379–S395 |doi=10.1086/658682|hdl=1885/75070 |s2cid=36818517 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Perrier2009"/><ref name="Fuller2015">{{cite journal |last1=Fuller |first1=Dorian Q |last2=Boivin |first2=Nicole |last3=Hoogervorst |first3=Tom |last4=Allaby |first4=Robin |title=Across the Indian Ocean: the prehistoric movement of plants and animals |journal=Antiquity |date=January 2, 2015 |volume=85 |issue=328 |pages=544–558 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00067934|doi-access=free }}</ref> Foraging humans in this area began domestication in the late Pleistocene using transplantation and early cultivation methods.<ref name="Roberts-et-al-2017">{{cite journal | last1=Roberts | first1=Patrick | last2=Hunt | first2=Chris | last3=Arroyo-Kalin | first3=Manuel | last4=Evans | first4=Damian | last5=Boivin | first5=Nicole | title=The deep human prehistory of global tropical forests and its relevance for modern conservation | journal=Nature Plants | publisher=Nature Portfolio | volume=3 | issue=8 | date=2017-08-03 | page=17093 | issn=2055-0278 | pmid=28770823 | doi=10.1038/nplants.2017.93 | bibcode=2017NatPl...317093R | url=https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6697/3/Roberts%20et%20al.%20revised%20main%20text%20accepted%20version%20with%20pix.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/6697/3/Roberts%20et%20al.%20revised%20main%20text%20accepted%20version%20with%20pix.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Harris-Hillman-1989">{{cite book | title=Foraging and Farming — The Evolution of Plant Exploitation | editor1-first=David R. | editor1-last=Harris | editor2-first=Gordon C. | editor2-last=Hillman | date=1989 | location=London | publisher=Routledge| pages=766 | doi=10.4324/9781315746425 | isbn=9781315746425 | s2cid=140588504}}</ref> Various investigations<ref name="Harris-Hillman-1989" /><ref name="Roberts-et-al-2017" /> {{endash}} including Denham ''et al.'', 2003 {{endash}} determine that by the early to middle of the Holocene the process was complete.<ref name="Roberts-et-al-2017" /> 

=== Ancient spread ===

==== Austronesian trade routes ====

From New Guinea, cultivated bananas spread westward into Island Southeast Asia. They hybridized with other (possibly independently domesticated) subspecies of ''Musa acuminata'' as well as ''M. balbisiana'' in the Philippines, northern New Guinea, and possibly Halmahera. These hybridization events produced the triploid cultivars of bananas commonly grown today. From Island Southeast Asia, they became part of the staple domesticated crops of the Austronesian peoples and were spread via their ancient seaborne migrations and ancient maritime trading routes into Oceania, Africa, South Asia, and Indochina.<ref name="Perrier 2019">{{cite journal |last=Perrier |first=Xavier |last2=Jenny |first2=Christophe |last3=Bakry |first3=Frédéric |last4=Karamura |first4=Deborah |last5=Kitavi |first5=Mercy |last6=Dubois |first6=Cécile |last7=Hervouet |first7=Catherine |last8=Philippson |first8=Gérard |last9=De Langhe |first9=Edmond |title=East African diploid and triploid bananas: a genetic complex transported from South-East Asia |journal=Annals of Botany |volume=123 |issue=1 |date=1 January 2019 |issn=0305-7364 |pmid=30247503 |pmc=6344093 |doi=10.1093/aob/mcy156 |doi-access=free |pages=19–36 |url=https://academic.oup.com/aob/article-pdf/123/1/19/27585778/mcy156.pdf |quote=The results point to the role of Austronesian-speaking peoples who colonized the Indian Ocean islands, particularly Madagascar, and reached the East African coasts.}}</ref>

[[File:Chronological dispersal of Austronesian people across the Pacific (per Benton et al, 2012, adapted from Bellwood, 2011).png|thumb|Chronological dispersal of Austronesian peoples across the Indo-Pacific<ref name="Chambers-2013">{{cite book |last1=Chambers |first1=Geoff |title=eLS |chapter=Genetics and the Origins of the Polynesians |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |date=2013 |doi=10.1002/9780470015902.a0020808.pub2|isbn=978-0470016176 }}</ref>]]

Bananas are believed to have been introduced to Africa from Southeast Asia via the Austronesian settlement of Madagascar ({{circa|600 AD}}).<ref name="Power"/><ref name="Beaujard2011">{{cite journal |last1=Beaujard |first1=Philippe |title=The first migrants to Madagascar and their introduction of plants: linguistic and ethnological evidence |journal=Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa |date=August 2011 |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=169–189 |doi=10.1080/0067270X.2011.580142|url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00706173 }}</ref><ref name="Anderson2019">{{cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=Atholl |title=The Peopling of Madagascar |journal=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |date=25 January 2019 |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.325|isbn=978-0-19-027772-7 }}</ref> This is supported by relict populations of (accidentally-introduced) seeded ''Musa acuminata'' in northeastern Madagasacar and Pemba Island (off Tanzania), as well as the phenotypes of cultivated polyploid bananas, and their distribution; all of which provide the clearest evidence of a Southeast Asian origin.<ref name="Power"/><ref name="Beaujard2011"/> However, the role of Madagascar as a staging board for the dispersal of bananas (and other Asian crops) is unclear. Malagasy people colonized Madagascar from Island Southeast Asia around 600 AD onwards, but contact between East Africa and Island Southeast Asia dates back to at least 300 BC or earlier. The possibility that bananas may have been introduced from earlier Austronesian settlements in the East African coast that pre-date the settlement of Madagascar can not be ruled out.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adelaar |first=Alexander |author-link=K. Alexander Adelaar |chapter=Austronesians in Madagascar: A critical assessment of the works of Paul Ottino and Philippe Beaujard |editor=Campbell, Gwyn |title=Early exchange between Africa and the wider Indian Ocean world |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2016 |pages=77–112 |url=http://ndl.ethernet.edu.et/bitstream/123456789/70193/1/28.pdf.pdf#page=90 |quote=the beginning of any contacts between East Africa and ISEA, which dates from 300 BC or possibly earlier and involves the transfer of cultigens (including banana, yam, taro, and rice) ... settlement of Madagascar by speakers of Austronesian languages. It covers a period probably beginning around the seventh-century CE |doi=10.1007/978-3-319-33822-4_4 |isbn=978-3-319-33821-7}}</ref> 

These ancient introductions resulted in the banana subgroup now known as the "true" plantains, which include the East African Highland bananas and the Pacific plantains (the Iholena and Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroups). Genetic evidence show that East African Highland bananas (AAA) originated from banana populations introduced to Africa from the region between Java, Borneo, and New Guinea. Pacific plantains (AAB), on the other hand, were introduced to the Pacific Islands from banana populations originating from either eastern New Guinea or the Bismarck Archipelago.<ref name="Denham2011"/><ref name="Perrier2009"/>

Another wave of introductions later spread domesticated polyploid bananas to other parts of tropical Asia, particularly Indochina and the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Denham2011"/><ref name="Perrier2009">{{cite journal |last1=Perrier |first1=Xavier |last2=Bakry |first2=Frédéric |last3=Carreel |first3=Françoise |last4=Jenny |first4=Christophe |last5=Horry |first5=Jean-Pierre |last6=Lebot |first6=Vincent |last7=Hippolyte |first7=Isabelle |title=Combining Biological Approaches to Shed Light on the Evolution of Edible Bananas |journal=Ethnobotany Research & Applications|date=2009 |volume=7 |pages=199–216 |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/download/362/231 |doi=10.17348/era.7.0.199-216 |hdl=10125/12515 |access-date=October 27, 2019 |archive-date=November 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191116055142/http://journals.sfu.ca/era/index.php/era/article/download/362/231 |url-status=live |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Southeast Asia remains the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation there.{{sfn|Ploetz|Kepler|Daniells|Nelson|2007|p=7}}

==== Other hypotheses ====

21st century discoveries of alleged banana phytoliths in Uganda and Cameroon dating to the first millennium BC and earlier triggered a debate about the date of the first introduction of bananas to East Africa.<ref name="Power"/><ref name="Mbida-2000">{{cite journal |title=Evidence for banana cultivation and animal husbandry during the first millennium BCE in the forest of southern Cameroon |last1=Mbida |first1=V.M. |last2=Van Neer |first2=W. |last3=Doutrelepont |first3=H. |last4=Vrydaghs |first4=L. |date=2000 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |url=http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/krigbaum/6930/mbida_etal_JAS_2000.pdf |doi=10.1006/jasc.1999.0447 |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=151–162 |bibcode=2000JArSc..27..151M |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114191608/http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/krigbaum/6930/mbida_etal_JAS_2000.pdf |archive-date=January 14, 2012 |access-date=January 20, 2019  }}</ref><ref name="Lejju-2005">{{cite journal |title=Africa's earliest bananas? |first1=B. Julius |last1=Lejju |first2=Peter |last2=Robertshaw |first3=David |last3=Taylor |date=2005 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=33 |pages=102–113 |url=http://www.inibap.org/pdf/phytoliths_en.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202120538/http://www.inibap.org/pdf/phytoliths_en.pdf |archive-date=December 2, 2007 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2005.06.015 }}</ref>

However, the identification of the remains in Uganda as phytoliths, much less banana phytoliths, is now considered dubious. The Cameroon phytoliths, on the other hand, are confirmed as ''Musa'', despite early doubts that they may be from ''Ensete''. However, the incongruous early date (all other archaeobotanical remains of bananas in Africa being from at earliest the first millennium AD) remains questionable due to the low number of phytoliths recovered (25), the absence of additional phytoliths in more recent sediments, and the possibility that the apparent date was the result of stratigraphic mixing.<ref name="Power">{{cite journal |last1=Power |first1=Robert C. |last2=Güldemann |first2=Tom |last3=Crowther |first3=Alison |last4=Boivin |first4=Nicole |title=Asian Crop Dispersal in Africa and Late Holocene Human Adaptation to Tropical Environments |journal=Journal of World Prehistory |date=December 2019 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=353–392 |doi=10.1007/s10963-019-09136-x|hdl=21.11116/0000-0005-3EA6-B |hdl-access=free }}</ref> An introduction date of 2000 to 1000 BC is also unlikely as this was long before there were any evidence of agriculture in East Africa. Polyploid banana cultivars are sterile and do not spread without human cultivation.<ref name="Power"/>

Similarly, phytoliths recovered from the Kot Diji archaeological site in Pakistan were interpreted as evidence that bananas were known to the Indus Valley civilisation. This may indicate very early dispersal of bananas by Austronesian traders by sea from as early as 2000 BCE. But this is still putative, as they may have come from local wild ''Musa'' species used for fiber or as ornamentals, not food; and banana phytoliths are absent in other contemporary sites in South Asia.<ref name="Fuller2015"/>

Glucanase and two other proteins specific to Musaceae were found in dental calculus from the early Iron Age (12th century BCE) Philistines in Tel Erani in the southern Levant. However, the authors only tentatively identify it as ''Musa'', as the proteins can also be found in ''Ensete'' (cultivated for their edible corms and pseudostems in Africa).<ref>{{cite journal |display-authors=etal |first1=Ashley |last1=Scott |title=Exotic foods reveal contact between South Asia and the Near East during the second millennium BCE |journal=PNAS |date=Jan 12, 2021 |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=e2014956117 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2014956117 |pmid=33419922 |pmc=7812755 |bibcode=2021PNAS..11814956S |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Arab Agricultural Revolution ===

{{further|Arab Agricultural Revolution}}

[[File:Bananas Muslim world.JPG|thumb|Actual and probable diffusion of bananas during the Arab Agricultural Revolution (700–1500 CE)<ref name="Watson-1983"/>|alt=Map stating that banana cultivation occurred in pre-Islamic times in India and Southeast Asia, during the 700–1500 CE "Islamic period" along the Nile River and in Mesopotamia and Palestine, and less-certainly in sub-Saharan Africa during that same period]]
The banana may have been present in isolated locations in the Middle East on the eve of Islam. The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths) from the 9th century onwards. By the 10th century, the banana appeared in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there, it diffused into North Africa and Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) during the Arab Agricultural Revolution.<ref name="Watson-1974">{{cite journal |last=Watson |first=Andrew M. |year=1974 |title=The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700–1100 |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=8–35 |doi=10.1017/S0022050700079602 |jstor=2116954|s2cid=154359726 }}</ref><ref name="Watson-1983"/> An article on banana tree cultivation is included in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, ''Kitāb al-Filāḥa'' (''Book on Agriculture'').<ref>{{cite book |last=Ibn al-'Awwam |first=Yahya |author-link=Ibn al-'Awwam |title=Le livre de l'agriculture d'Ibn-al-Awam (kitab-al-felahah) |language=fr |trans-title=The Book of Agriculture of Ibn-al-Awam (Kitāb al-Filāḥa) |year=1864 |location=Paris |publisher=A. Francke Verlag |translator=J.-J. Clement-Mullet |pages=368–370 (ch. 7 - Article 48) |url=https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n14/mode/2up |oclc=780050566}} (pp. [https://archive.org/details/lelivredelagric00algoog/page/n472/mode/2up 368]–370 (Article XLVIII)</ref> During the Middle Ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world.<ref name="Watson-1983">{{cite book |last=Watson |first=Andrew |chapter=Part 1. The chronology of diffusion: 8. Banana, plantain |date=1983 |title=Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-24711-5}}</ref> Bananas were certainly grown in the Christian Kingdom of Cyprus by the late medieval period. Writing in 1458, the Italian traveller and writer Gabriele Capodilista wrote favourably of the extensive farm produce of the estates at Episkopi, near modern-day Limassol, including the area's banana plantations.<ref name="Jennings-1992">{{cite book |first=Ronald |last=Jennings |title=Christians and Muslims in Ottoman Cyprus and the Mediterranean World, 1571–1640 |location=New York |publisher=NYU Press |year=1992 |page=189 |isbn=978-0-8147-4181-8}}</ref>

=== Early modern spread ===

{{further|Columbian exchange}}

[[File:Acta Eruditorum - III musa arabum pala plinii, 1734 – BEIC 13446956.jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration of fruit and plant,<br/>''Acta Eruditorum'', 1734]]

In the early modern period, bananas were encountered by European explorers during the Magellan expedition in 1521, in both Guam and the Philippines. Lacking a name for the fruit, the ship's historian Antonio Pigafetta described them as "figs more than one palm long."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amano |first1=Noel |last2=Bankoff |first2=Greg |last3=Findley |first3=David Max |last4=Barretto-Tesoro |first4=Grace |last5=Roberts |first5=Patrick |title=Archaeological and historical insights into the ecological impacts of pre-colonial and colonial introductions into the Philippine Archipelago |journal=The Holocene|date=February 2021 |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=313–330 |doi=10.1177/0959683620941152 |bibcode=2021Holoc..31..313A |s2cid=225586504 |doi-access=free |hdl=21.11116/0000-0006-CB04-1 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Nowell-1962">{{cite book |last=Nowell |first=C.E. |year=1962 |title=Magellan's Voyage Around the World |chapter=Antonio Pigafetta's account |publisher=Northwestern University Press |oclc=347382 |hdl=2027/mdp.39015008001532 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015008001532?urlappend=%3Bseq=144}}</ref>{{rp|130, 132}} Bananas were introduced to South America by Portuguese sailors who brought them from West Africa in the 16th century.<ref name="Gibson-2012">{{cite web |first=Arthur C. |last=Gibson |url=http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Musa/index.html |title=Bananas and plantains |publisher=University of California, Los Angeles |access-date=September 5, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120614121141/http://www.botgard.ucla.edu/html/botanytextbooks/economicbotany/Musa/index.html |archive-date=June 14, 2012  }}</ref> Southeast Asian banana cultivars, as well as abaca grown for fibers, were introduced to North and Central America by the Spanish from the Philippines, via the Manila galleons.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Guzmán-Rivas |first=Pablo |title=Geographic Influences of the Galleon Trade on New Spain |journal=Revista Geográfica |date=1960 |volume=27 |issue=53 |pages=5–81 |jstor=41888470 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41888470}}</ref>

=== Plantation cultivation ===

{{further|History of modern banana plantations in the Americas}}

[[File:Banana Plantation Panabo City.jpg|thumb|Plantation in the Philippines, 2010]]

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa.<ref name="Phora-sotoby.com"/> North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after the Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that the food became more widespread.<ref name="Koeppel-2008">{{cite book |first=Dan |last=Koeppel |title=Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World |url=https://archive.org/details/bananafateoffrui00koep |url-access=registration |location=New York |publisher=Hudson Street Press |date=2008 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bananafateoffrui00koep/page/51 51–53] |isbn=978-0-452-29008-2}}</ref> As late as the Victorian Era, bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available.<ref name="Phora-sotoby.com">{{cite web |url=http://www.phora-sotoby.com/history.html |title=History of Banana |publisher=Phora-sotoby.com |access-date=April 16, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416175908/http://www.phora-sotoby.com/history.html |archive-date=April 16, 2009 }}</ref>

The earliest modern plantations originated in Jamaica and the related Western Caribbean Zone, including most of Central America. Plantation cultivation involved the combination of modern transportation networks of steamships and railroads with the development of refrigeration that allowed more time between harvesting and ripening. North American shippers like Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew Preston, the founders of the Boston Fruit Company started this process in the 1870s, with the participation of railroad builders like Minor C. Keith. Development led to the multi-national giant corporations like Chiquita and Dole.<ref name="Koeppel-2008"/> These companies were monopolistic, vertically integrated (controlling growing, processing, shipping and marketing) and usually used political manipulation to build enclave economies (internally self-sufficient, virtually tax exempt, and export-oriented, contributing little to the host economy). Their political maneuvers, which gave rise to the term banana republic for states such as Honduras and Guatemala, included working with local elites and their rivalries to influence politics or playing the international interests of the United States, especially during the Cold War, to keep the political climate favorable to their interests.<ref name="NZHerald-2008"/>

=== Small-scale cultivation ===

{{further|History of peasant banana production in the Americas}}

[[File:Farm_Workers.jpg|thumb|Small-scale banana production, Liberia, 2013]]

The vast majority of the world's bananas are cultivated for family consumption or for sale on local markets. They are grown in large quantities in India, while many other Asian and African countries host numerous small-scale banana growers who sell at least some of their crop.{{sfn|Office of the Gene Technology Regulator|2008|pp=7–8}} Peasants with smallholdings of 1 to 2 acres in the Caribbean produce bananas for the world market, often alongside other crops.<ref>Clegg, Peter "[http://www.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/banana/Doc/windward.pdf The Development of the Windward Islands Banana Export Trade: Commercial Opportunity and Colonial Necessity] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101008021400/http://www.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/banana/Doc/windward.pdf |date=October 8, 2010 }}," ''Society for Caribbean Studies Annual Conference Papers'' 1 (2000)</ref> In many tropical countries, the main cultivars produce green (unripe) bananas used for cooking. Because bananas and plantains produce fruit year-round, they provide a valuable food source during the ''hunger season'' between harvests of other crops, and are thus important for global food security.<ref name="d'Hont-2012">{{cite journal |pmid=22801500 |year=2012 |last1=d'Hont |first1=A. |title=The banana (Musa acuminata) genome and the evolution of monocotyledonous plants |journal=Nature |volume=488 |issue=7410 |pages=213–217 |last2=Denoeud |first2=F. |last3=Aury |first3=J.M. |last4=Baurens |first4=F. C. |last5=Carreel |first5=F. |last6=Garsmeur |first6=O. |last7=Noel |first7=B. |last8=Bocs |first8=S. |last9=Droc |first9=G. |last10=Rouard |first10=M. |last11=Da Silva |first11=C. |last12=Jabbari |first12=K. |display-authors=6 |doi=10.1038/nature11241 |bibcode=2012Natur.488..213D |doi-access=free|hdl=10568/35839 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

== Modern cultivation ==

{{see also|List of banana cultivars}}

Bananas are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months.{{sfn|Stover|Simmonds|1987|pp=244–247}} As a non-seasonal crop, bananas are available fresh year-round.<ref>{{cite web |title=How bananas are grown |url=http://www.bananalink.org.uk/how-bananas-are-grown |website=Banana Link |access-date=September 2, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160906115526/http://www.bananalink.org.uk/how-bananas-are-grown |archive-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> They are grown in some 135 countries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.promusa.org/Banana-producing+countries+portal |title=Where bananas are grown |publisher=ProMusa |date=2013 |access-date=October 24, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025111611/http://www.promusa.org/Banana-producing+countries+portal |archive-date=October 25, 2016 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

=== Cavendish ===

{{main|Cavendish banana}}

[[File:Bananas.jpg|thumb|alt=Grocery store photo of several bunches of bananas|Cultivars in the Cavendish group dominate the world market.]]

In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid ''Musa acuminata'' AAA group of Cavendish group bananas.<ref>{{cite web |title=Apples and oranges are the top U.S. fruit choices |url=https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/chart-gallery/chart-detail?chartId=58322 |access-date=2023-02-13 |website=USDA Economic Research Service}}</ref> Disease is threatening the production of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace Cavendish bananas, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are attempting to create a disease-resistant, mass-market banana. One such strain that has emerged is the Taiwanese Cavendish or Formosana.<ref name="Gittleson-2018">{{cite news |last=Gittleson |first=Kim |title=Battling to save the world's bananas |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42777803 |access-date=April 18, 2018 |work=BBC News |date=February 1, 2018 |archive-date=March 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180326214246/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42777803 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Wang-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Xiaoyi |last2=Yu |first2=Renbo |last3=Li |first3=Jingyang |title=Using Genetic Engineering Techniques to Develop Banana Cultivars With Fusarium Wilt Resistance and Ideal Plant Architecture |journal=Frontiers in Plant Science |volume=11 |date=13 January 2021 |pmid=33519876 |pmc=7838362 |doi=10.3389/fpls.2020.617528 |doi-access=free |page=|bibcode=2021FrPS...1117528W }}</ref><ref name="Canine-2005">{{cite web |last1=Canine |first1=Craig |title=Building A Better Banana |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/building-a-better-banana-70543194/ |publisher=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=13 July 2024 |date=October 2005}}</ref>

=== Ripening ===

Export bananas are picked green, and ripened in special rooms upon arrival in the destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. This mimics the normal production of this gas as a ripening hormone.<ref name="FruitRipening">{{cite web |title=Fruit Ripening |url=http://plantphys.info/plants_human/fruitgrowripe.shtml |access-date=February 17, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721231853/http://plantphys.info/plants_human/fruitgrowripe.shtml |archive-date=July 21, 2011  }}</ref><ref name="ArgonneNationalLaboratory"/> Ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase, an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste. Ethylene signals the production of pectinase, a different enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of the banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens.<ref name="FruitRipening"/><ref name="ArgonneNationalLaboratory">{{cite web |title=Ethylene Process |publisher=Argonne National Laboratory |url=http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00553.htm |access-date=February 17, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100324070541/http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00553.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 24, 2010}}</ref> The vivid yellow color many consumers in temperate climates associate with bananas is caused by ripening around {{convert|18|C|F}}, and does not occur in Cavendish bananas ripened in tropical temperatures (over {{convert|27|C|F}}), which leaves them green.<ref name="Ding-2007">{{cite journal |first1=Phebe |last1=Ding |first2=S.H. |last2=Ahmad |first3=A.R.A. |last3=Razak |first4=N. |last4=Shaari |first5=M.T.M. |last5=Mohamed |date=2007 |title=Plastid ultrastructure, chlorophyll contents, and colour expression during ripening of Cavendish banana (''Musa acuminata'' 'Williams') at 17°C and 27°C |journal=New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=201–210 |url=http://psasir.upm.edu.my/836/1/PFP10.PDF |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316001102/http://psasir.upm.edu.my/836/1/PFP10.PDF |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 16, 2012 |access-date=July 16, 2011 |doi=10.1080/01140670709510186 |bibcode=2007NZJCH..35..201D |s2cid=83844509 }}</ref><ref name="Sugianti-2024">{{cite journal |last1=Sugianti |first1=Cicih |last2=Imaizumi |first2=Teppei |last3=Thammawong |first3=Manasikan |last4=Tsuta |first4=Mizuki |last5=Nagata |first5=Masayasu |last6=Nakano |first6=Kohei |title=Time–temperature tolerance of harvested green bananas exposed to high temperatures |journal=Scientia Horticulturae |volume=329 |date=2024 |doi=10.1016/j.scienta.2024.112970 |page=112970|bibcode=2024ScHor.32912970S |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Storage and transport ===

[[File:Overripe banana 20211221 152406.jpg|thumb|''Ralstonia solanacearum'' on an overripe banana]]

Bananas are transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets.<ref name="Arias-2003">{{Cite book |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=biUhdI19b18C|page=1}} |title=The World Banana Economy, 1985-2002 |last=Arias |first=Pedro |date=2003 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization |isbn=978-9251050576}}</ref> To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before the fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at {{convert|13|C}}. On arrival, bananas are held at about {{convert|17|C}} and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After a few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process.<ref name="Chiquita-2009">{{cite web |url=http://www.chiquitabananas.com/Banana-Information/selecting-handling-ripening-bananas.aspx |title=How to Ripen Bananas |publisher=Chiquita |access-date=August 15, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804095635/http://www.chiquitabananas.com/Banana-Information/selecting-handling-ripening-bananas.aspx |archive-date=August 4, 2009  }}</ref><ref name="Bebber-2023">{{cite journal |last=Bebber |first=Daniel P. |title=The long road to a sustainable banana trade |journal=Plants, People, Planet |volume=5 |issue=5 |date=2023 |doi=10.1002/ppp3.10331 |pages=662–671 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023PlPP....5..662B |hdl=10871/131107 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

=== Sustainability ===

The excessive use of fertilizers contributes greatly to eutrophication in streams and lakes, harming aquatic life, while expanding banana production has led to deforestation. As soil nutrients are depleted, more forest is cleared for plantations. This causes soil erosion and increases the frequency of flooding.<ref name="Cohen-2009">{{cite web |last=Cohen |first=Rebecca |date=2009-06-12 |title=Global issues for breakfast: The banana industry and its problems FAQ (Cohen mix) |url=https://www.scq.ubc.ca/global-issues-for-breakfast-the-banana-industry-and-its-problems-faq-cohen-mix/ |access-date=2020-06-05 |website=SCQ |archive-date=June 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605014801/https://www.scq.ubc.ca/global-issues-for-breakfast-the-banana-industry-and-its-problems-faq-cohen-mix/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Voluntary sustainability standards such as Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade are being used to address some of these issues. Banana production certified in this way grew rapidly at the start of the 21st century to represent 36% of banana exports by 2016.<ref>{{Cite report |last1=Voora |first1=V. |last2=Larrea |first2=C. |last3=Bermudez |first3=S. |year=2020 |title=Global Market Report: Bananas |url=https://www.iisd.org/ssi/commodities/banana-coverage/ |website=State of Sustainability Initiatives}}</ref> However, such standards are applied mainly in countries which focus on the export market, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala; worldwide they cover only 8–10% of production.<ref name="Voora-2023">{{cite web |last1=Voora |first1=Vivek |last2=Bermudez |first2=Steffany |last3=Farrell |first3=Johanna Joy |last4=Larrea |first4=Cristina |last5=Luna |first5=Erika |title=Banana Prices and Sustainability |page=8 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/2023-03/2023-global-market-report-banana.pdf |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |access-date=13 July 2024 |date=March 2023}}</ref>

== Breeding ==

Mutation breeding can be used in this crop. Aneuploidy is a source of significant variation in allotriploid varieties. For one example, it can be a source of TR4 resistance. Lab protocols have been devised to screen for such aberrations and for possible resulting disease resistances.<ref name="Jankowicz-Cieslak-2022">{{ Cite book |date=2022 |publication-place=Berlin |first2=Ivan |first1=Joanna |last2=Ingelbrecht |last1=Jankowicz-Cieslak |editor-first1=Joanna |editor-first2=Ivan L. |editor-last1=Jankowicz-Cieslak |editor-last2=Ingelbrecht |title=Efficient Screening Techniques to Identify Mutants with TR4 Resistance in Banana : Protocols |isbn=978-3-662-64914-5 |publisher=Plant Breeding and Genetics Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization |doi=10.1007/978-3-662-64915-2 |s2cid=249207968 |oclc=1323245754 |page=142}}</ref> Wild ''Musa'' spp. provide useful resistance genetics, and are vital to breeding for TR4 resistance, as shown in introgressed resistance from wild relatives.<ref name="Ismaila-2023">{{cite journal |issue=1 |publisher=Elsevier |year=2023 |volume=9 |pages=1–28 |display-authors=3 |last1=Ismaila |first1=Abubakar Abubakar |last2=Ahmad |first2=Khairulmazmi |last3=Siddique |first3=Yasmeen |last4=Wahab |first4=Muhammad Aswad Abdul |last5=Kutawa |first5=Abdulaziz Bashir |last6=Abdullahi |first6=Adamu |last7=Zobir |first7=Syazwan Afif Mohd |last8=Abdu |first8=Arifin |last9=Abdullah |first9=Siti Nor Akmar |id=Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences via KeAi Communications Co. Ltd. – Chinese Society for Horticultural Science and Institute of Vegetables and Flowers |journal=Horticultural Plant Journal |doi=10.1016/j.hpj.2022.02.004 |title=''Fusarium'' wilt of banana: Current update and sustainable disease control using classical and essential oils approaches |s2cid=247265619 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023HorPJ...9....1I }}</ref> Bananas form a hybrid-polyploid complex; hybrids can be diploid, triploid, tetraploid, or pentaploid, i.e. they may have 2, 3, 4, or 5 sets of chromosomes. This makes them difficult to breed as hybrids are often sterile, in addition to the challenge of breeding seedless (parthenocarpic) varieties.{{cn|date=January 2025}}

The Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research has bred a seedless banana that is resistant to both Panama disease and black Sigatoka disease. The team made use of the fact that "seedless" varieties do rarely produce seeds; they obtained around fifteen seeds from some 30,000 cultivated plants, pollinated by hand with pollen from wild Asian bananas.<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Fred |last=Pearce |title=Going bananas |journal=New Scientist |date=18 January 2003 |volume=177 |issue=2378 |page=27 |url=http://courseresources.mit.usf.edu/sgs/ph6934/webpages/CC/module_5/read/going_bananas_pearce.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200217021404/http://courseresources.mit.usf.edu/sgs/ph6934/webpages/CC/module_5/read/going_bananas_pearce.pdf |archive-date=2020-02-17 |url-status=live}}</ref>

== Production and export ==

{|class="wikitable floatright" style="width:24em; margin-left: 1em;"
|+ 2022 production (in millions of tonnes)
|-
!  style="background:#ddf; width:70%;"|
!  style="background:#ddf; width:10%;"|Bananas
!  style="background:#ddf; width:10%;"|Plantains
!  style="background:#ddf; width:10%;"|Total
|-
|{{Flagu|India}}||style="text-align:center;"|34.5||&nbsp;||style="text-align:center;"|34.5
|-
|{{Flagu|China}}||style="text-align:center;"|11.8||&nbsp;||style="text-align:center;"|11.8
|-
|{{Flagu|Uganda}}||style="text-align:center;"|  ||style="text-align:center;"|10.4||style="text-align:center;"|10.4
|-
|{{Flagu|Indonesia}}||style="text-align:center;"|9.2||&nbsp;||style="text-align:center;"|9.2
|-
|{{Flagu|Philippines}}||style="text-align:center;"|5.9||style="text-align:center;"|3.1||style="text-align:center;"|9.0
|-
|{{Flagu|Nigeria}}||style="text-align:center;"|8.0||style="text-align:center;"|  ||style="text-align:center;"|8.0
|-
|{{Flagu|Ecuador}}||style="text-align:center;"|6.1||style="text-align:center;"|0.9||style="text-align:center;"|6.9
|-
|{{Flagu|Brazil}}||style="text-align:center;"|6.9||&nbsp;||style="text-align:center;"|6.9
|-
|{{Flagu|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}||style="text-align:center;"|0.8||style="text-align:center;"|4.9||style="text-align:center;"|5.7
|-
|{{Flagu|Cameroon}}||style="text-align:center;"|0.9||style="text-align:center;"|4.7||style="text-align:center;"|5.5
|-
|{{Flagu|Colombia}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.5||style="text-align:center;"|2.5||style="text-align:center;"|5.0
|-
|{{Flagu|Guatemala}}||style="text-align:center;"|4.8||style="text-align:center;"|0.3||style="text-align:center;"|5.0
|-
|{{Flagu|Ghana}}||style="text-align:center;"|0.1||style="text-align:center;"|4.8||style="text-align:center;"|4.9
|-
|{{Flagu|Angola}}||style="text-align:center;"|4.6||&nbsp;||style="text-align:center;"|4.6
|-
|{{Flagu|Tanzania}}||style="text-align:center;"|3.5||style="text-align:center;"|0.6||style="text-align:center;"|4.1
|-
|{{Flagu|Rwanda}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.2||style="text-align:center;"|0.9||style="text-align:center;"|3.1
|-
|{{Flagu|Costa Rica}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.5||style="text-align:center;"|0.1||style="text-align:center;"|2.6
|-
|{{Flagu|Ivory Coast}}||style="text-align:center;"|0.5||style="text-align:center;"|2.1||style="text-align:center;"|2.6
|-
|{{Flagu|Mexico}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.6|| ||style="text-align:center;"|2.6
|-
|{{Flagu|Dominican Republic}}||style="text-align:center;"|1.4||style="text-align:center;"|1.2||style="text-align:center;"|2.5
|-
|{{Flagu|Vietnam}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.5|| ||style="text-align:center;"|2.5
|-
|{{Flagu|Peru}}||style="text-align:center;"|2.4||style="text-align:center;"|  ||style="text-align:center;"|2.4
|-
|style="text-align: center;" |'''World'''||style="text-align:center;"|'''135.1'''||style="text-align:center;"|'''44.2'''||style="text-align:center;"|'''179.3'''
|-
|colspan=4|<small>Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations<ref name="FAOSTAT-2022">{{cite web |title=FAOSTAT |url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL |website=www.fao.org |access-date=16 March 2024}}</ref> Note: Some countries distinguish between bananas and plantains, but four of the top six producers do not, thus necessitating comparisons using the total for bananas and plantains combined.</small>
|}

{{as of|2018}}, bananas are exported in larger volume and to a larger value than any other fruit.<ref name="Gittleson-2018"/> In 2022, world production of bananas and plantains combined was 179 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total of 26% of global production. Other major producers were Uganda, Indonesia, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ecuador.<ref name="FAOSTAT-2022"/> As reported for 2013, total world exports were 20 million tonnes of bananas and 859,000 tonnes of plantains.<ref name="FAOSTAT-2017">{{cite web|url=http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/TP |title=Banana and plantain exports in 2013, Crops and livestock products/Regions/World list/Export quantity (pick lists) |date=2017 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization, Corporate Statistical Database (FAOSTAT) |access-date=January 6, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511194947/http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/TP |archive-date=May 11, 2017}}</ref> Ecuador and the Philippines were the leading exporters with 5.4 and 3.3 million tonnes, respectively, and the Dominican Republic was the leading exporter of plantains with 210,350 tonnes.<ref name="FAOSTAT-2017"/>

== Pests ==

Bananas are damaged by a variety of pests, especially nematodes and insects.<ref name="Padmanaban-2018"/>

=== Nematodes ===

Banana roots are subject to damage from multiple species of parasitic nematodes. ''Radopholus similis'' causes nematode root rot, the most serious nematode disease of bananas in economic terms.<ref name="Sekora">Sekora, N. S. and W. T. Crow. [http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/NEMATODE/Radopholus_similis.htm Burrowing nematode, ''Radopholus similis''.] EENY-542. University of Florida IFAS. 2012.</ref> Root-knot is the result of infection by species of ''Meloidogyne'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jonathan |first1=E.I. |last2=Rajendran |first2=G. |title=Pathogenic effect of root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita on banana, Musa sp |journal=Indian Journal of Nematology |date=2000 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=13–15 |url=https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijn&volume=30&issue=1&article=004}}</ref> while root-lesion is caused by species of ''Pratylenchus'',<ref name="Nyang’au-2021">{{cite journal |last1=Nyang’au |first1=Douglas |last2=Atandi |first2=Janet |last3=Cortada |first3=Laura |last4=Nchore |first4=Shem |last5=Mwangi |first5=Maina |last6=Coyne |first6=Danny |title=Diversity of nematodes on banana (Musa spp.) in Kenya linked to altitude and with a focus on the pathogenicity of Pratylenchus goodeyi |journal=Nematology |volume=24 |issue=2 |date=30 August 2021 |doi=10.1163/15685411-bja10119 |pages=137–147|hdl=1854/LU-8735041 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> and spiral nematode root damage is the result of infection by ''Helicotylenchus'' species.<ref name="Zuckerman-1963">{{cite journal |last1=Zuckerman |first1=B.M. |last2=Strich-Hariri |first2=D. |title=The life stages of Helicotylenchus multicinctus (Cobb) in banana roots |journal=Nematology |year=1963 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=347–353 |publisher=E.J. Brill |doi=10.1163/187529263x00872}}</ref>

[[File:Radopholus similis.jpg|thumb|center|''Radopholus similis'' inside banana root, causing nematode root rot]]

=== Insects ===

Among the main insect pests of banana cultivation are two beetles that cause substantial economic losses, the banana borer ''Cosmopolites sordidus'' and the banana stem weevil ''Odoiporus longicollis''. Other significant pests include aphids and scarring beetles.<ref name="Padmanaban-2018">{{cite book |last=Padmanaban |first=B. |title=Pests and Their Management |chapter=Pests of Banana |publisher=Springer Singapore |publication-place=Singapore |date=2018 |isbn=978-981-10-8686-1 |doi=10.1007/978-981-10-8687-8_13 |pages=441–455}}</ref>

[[File:Cosmopolites sordidus.jpg|thumb|center|The banana borer is a destructive pest that tunnels inside the plant.<ref name="Padmanaban-2018"/>]]

== Diseases ==

{{main|List of banana and plantain diseases}}

Although in no danger of outright extinction, bananas of the Cavendish group, which dominate the global market, are under threat.<ref name="NewScientist-2006"/> There is a need to enrich banana biodiversity by producing diverse new banana varieties, not just focusing on the Cavendish.<ref name="Karp-2019"/> Its predecessor 'Gros Michel', discovered in the 1820s, was similarly dominant but had to be replaced after widespread infections of Panama disease. Monocropping of Cavendish similarly leaves it susceptible to disease and so threatens both commercial cultivation and small-scale subsistence farming.<ref name="NewScientist-2006">{{cite magazine |title=A future with no bananas? |magazine=New Scientist |date=May 13, 2006 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn9152-a-future-with-no-bananas.html |access-date=December 9, 2006 |archive-date=January 18, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210118200955/https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9152-a-future-with-no-bananas/?ignored=irrelevant |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Montpellier-2003">{{cite magazine |last=Montpellier |first=Emile Frison |title=Rescuing the banana |magazine=New Scientist |date=February 8, 2003 |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17723813.300-rescuing-the-banana.html |access-date=December 9, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070311123354/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17723813.300-rescuing-the-banana.html |archive-date=March 11, 2007  }}</ref> Within the data gathered from the genes of hundreds of bananas, the botanist Julie Sardos has found several wild banana ancestors currently unknown to scientists, whose genes could provide a means of defense against banana crop diseases.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Whang |first=Oliver |date=October 17, 2022 |title=The Search Is on for Mysterious Banana Ancestors |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/17/science/banana-ancestors-genes.html |access-date=October 21, 2022}}</ref>

Some commentators have remarked that those variants which could replace what much of the world considers a "typical banana" are so different that most people would not consider them the same fruit, and blame the decline of the banana on monogenetic cultivation driven by short-term commercial motives.<ref name="NZHerald-2008">{{cite news |title=Big-business greed killing the banana – Independent |newspaper=The New Zealand Herald |date=May 24, 2008 |page=A19}}</ref> Overall, fungal diseases are disproportionately important to small island developing states.<ref name="Thomas-2020">{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Adelle |last2=Baptiste |first2=April |last3=Martyr-Koller |first3=Rosanne |last4=Pringle |first4=Patrick |last5=Rhiney |first5=Kevon |title=Climate Change and Small Island Developing States |journal=Annual Review of Environment and Resources |publisher=Annual Reviews |volume=45 |issue=1 |date=October 17, 2020 |doi=10.1146/annurev-environ-012320-083355 |pages=1–27 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Panama disease ===

[[File:Panama disease of banana - vascular decoloration on pseudostem.jpg|thumb|Panama disease ''Fusarium'' fungus climbing up through the banana stem |alt=A banana tree cut horizontally to show the fungus development in the interior of the tree]]

Panama disease is caused by a ''Fusarium'' soil fungus, which enters the plants through the roots and travels with water into the trunk and leaves, producing gels and gums that cut off the flow of water and nutrients, causing the plant to wilt, and exposing the rest of the plant to lethal amounts of sunlight. Prior to 1960, almost all commercial banana production centered on the Gros Michel cultivar, which was highly susceptible.<ref name="Barker-2008">{{cite journal |last=Barker |first=C.L. |title=Conservation: Peeling Away |journal=National Geographic Magazine |date=November 2008}}</ref> Cavendish was chosen as the replacement for Gros Michel because, among resistant cultivars, it produces the highest quality fruit. It requires more care during shipping,<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Natasha |last=Frost |date=February 28, 2018 |url=https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gros-michel-bananas |magazine=Atlas Obscura |title=A Quest for the Gros Michel, the Great Banana of Yesteryear|access-date=July 24, 2019|archive-date=July 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724111647/https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/gros-michel-bananas |url-status=live}}</ref> and its quality compared to Gros Michel is debated.<ref name="Lessard-1992">{{Cite book |title=The Complete Book of Bananas |last=Lessard |first=William |year=1992 |publisher=W.O. Lessard |isbn=978-0963316103 |pages=27–28}}</ref>

==== Fusarium wilt TR4 ====

Fusarium wilt TR4, a reinvigorated strain of Panama disease, was discovered in 1993. This virulent form of Fusarium wilt has destroyed Cavendish plantations in several southeast Asian countries and spread to Australia and India.<ref name="Karp-2019">{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/banana-fungus-latin-america-threatening-future/ |title=The banana is one step closer to disappearing |last=Karp |first=Myles |publisher=National Geographic |date=August 12, 2019 |access-date=September 14, 2019 |archive-date=September 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190913225425/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/08/banana-fungus-latin-america-threatening-future/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> As the soil-based fungi can easily be carried on boots, clothing, or tools, the wilt spread to the Americas despite years of preventive efforts.<ref name="Karp-2019"/> Without genetic diversity, Cavendish is highly susceptible to TR4, and the disease endangers its commercial production worldwide.<ref name="IBP-2012">{{cite web |title=Risk assessment of Eastern African Highland Bananas and Plantains against TR4 |publisher=International Banana Symposium |date=2012 |url=http://banana-networks.org/bapnet/files/2012/11/Risk-Assessment-EAHB1.pdf |access-date=April 6, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407090355/http://banana-networks.org/bapnet/files/2012/11/Risk-Assessment-EAHB1.pdf |archive-date=April 7, 2014  }}</ref> The only known defense to TR4 is genetic resistance.<ref name="Karp-2019"/> This is conferred either by RGA2, a gene isolated from a TR4-resistant diploid banana, or by the nematode-derived Ced9.<ref name="Dale-2017"/><ref name="ISAAA-2021"/> This may be achieved by genetic modification.<ref name="Dale-2017">{{cite journal |display-authors=3 |last1=Dale |first1=James |last2=James |first2=Anthony |last3=Paul |first3=Jean-Yves |last4=Khanna |first4=Harjeet |last5=Smith |first5=Mark |last6=Peraza-Echeverria |first6=Santy |last7=Garcia-Bastidas |first7=Fernando |last8=Kema |first8=Gert |last9=Waterhouse |first9=Peter |last10=Mengersen |first10=Kerrie |last11=Harding |first11=Robert |title=Transgenic Cavendish bananas with resistance to Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 |journal=Nature Communications |date=November 14, 2017 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=1496 |doi=10.1038/s41467-017-01670-6 |pmid=29133817 |pmc=5684404 |bibcode=2017NatCo...8.1496D}}</ref><ref name="ISAAA-2021">{{cite web |title=Researchers Develop Cavendish Bananas Resistant to Panama Disease |website=ISAAA (International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications) Crop Biotech Update |date=2021-02-24 |url=http://www.isaaa.org/kc/cropbiotechupdate/article/default.asp?ID=18606 |access-date=2021-09-02}}</ref>

=== Black sigatoka ===

[[File:Black Sigatoka (detail).jpg|thumb|Leaf infected with black sigatoka ]]

Black sigatoka is a fungal leaf spot disease first observed in Fiji in 1963 or 1964. It is caused by the ascomycete ''Mycosphaerella fijiensis''. The disease, also called black leaf streak, has spread to banana plantations throughout the tropics from infected banana leaves used as packing material. It affects all main cultivars of bananas and plantains (including the Cavendish cultivars<ref name="Holmes-2013">{{cite journal |last=Holmes |first=Bob |date=April 20, 2013 |title=Go Bananas |journal=New Scientist |volume=218 |issue=2913 |pages=9–41}} (Also at {{cite web |last=Holmes |first=Bob |date=April 20, 2013 |title=Nana from heaven? How our favourite fruit came to be |website=New Scientist |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829132.000-nana-from-heaven-how-our-favourite-fruit-came-to-be.html |access-date=April 19, 2013 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424064954/http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21829132.000-nana-from-heaven-how-our-favourite-fruit-came-to-be.html |archive-date=April 24, 2013}})</ref>), impeding photosynthesis by blackening parts of the leaves, eventually killing the entire leaf. Starved for energy, fruit production falls by 50% or more, and the bananas that do grow ripen prematurely, making them unsuitable for export. The fungus has shown ever-increasing resistance to treatment; spraying with fungicides may be required as often as 50 times a year. Better strategies, with integrated pest management, are needed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Marín |first1=D.H. |last2=Romero |first2=R. A. |last3=Guzmán |first3=M. |last4=Sutton |first4=T.B. |publisher=American Phytopathological Society (APS) |journal=Plant Disease |title=Black sigatoka: An increasing threat to banana cultivation |volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=208–222 |year=2003 |doi=10.1094/PDIS.2003.87.3.208 |pmid=30812750 |bibcode=2003PlDis..87..208M }}</ref><ref name="JGI-2013">{{cite web |url=http://genomeportal.jgi-psf.org/Mycfi2/Mycfi2.home.html |title=''Mycosphaerella fijiensis'' v2.0 |publisher=Joint Genome Institute, U.S. Department of Energy |year=2013 |access-date=13 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228220104/http://genomeportal.jgi-psf.org/Mycfi2/Mycfi2.home.html |archive-date=28 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Banana bunchy top virus ===

[[File:Banana aphid colony.jpg|alt=Infected Banana Plant|thumb|Colony of banana aphids (''Pentalonia nigronervosa''), vector of banana bunchy top virus ]]

Banana bunchy top virus is a plant virus of the genus ''Babuvirus'', family ''Nanonviridae'' affecting ''Musa'' spp. (including banana, abaca, plantain and ornamental bananas) and ''Ensete'' spp. in the family ''Musaceae''.<ref>National Biological Information Infrastructure & IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. [http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=141 Banana Bunchy Top Virus] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160422084515/http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=141 |date=April 22, 2016}}. Global Invasive Species Database. N.p., July 6, 2005.</ref> Banana bunchy top disease symptoms include dark green streaks of variable length in leaf veins, midribs and petioles. Leaves become short and stunted as the disease progresses, becoming 'bunched' at the apex of the plant. Infected plants may produce no fruit or the fruit bunch may not emerge from the pseudostem.<ref name="Thomas-2015">Thomas, J.E. (ed). 2015. [http://www.musalit.org/seeMore.php?id=15942 MusaNet Technical Guidelines for the Safe Movement of ''Musa'' Germplasm] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928035947/http://www.musalit.org/seeMore.php?id=15942 |date=September 28, 2018}}. 3rd edition. MusaLit, Bioversity International, Rome</ref> The virus is transmitted by the banana aphid ''Pentalonia nigronervosa'' and is widespread in Southeast Asia, Asia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Oceania and parts of Africa. There is no cure, but it can be effectively controlled by the eradication of diseased plants and the use of virus-free planting material.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Thomas |first1=J.E. |last2=Iskra-Caruana |first2=M-L. |first3=D.R. |last3=Jones |year=1994 |title=''Musa'' Disease Fact Sheet N° 4. Banana Bunchy Top Disease |publisher=INIBAP |url=https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library/publications/pdfs/703.pdf |access-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-date=October 2, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002180558/https://www.bioversityinternational.org/fileadmin/user_upload/online_library/publications/pdfs/703.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> No resistant cultivars have been found, but varietal differences in susceptibility have been reported. The commercially important Cavendish subgroup is severely affected.<ref name="Thomas-2015"/>

=== Banana bacterial wilt ===

Banana bacterial wilt is a bacterial disease caused by ''Xanthomonas campestris'' pv. ''musacearum''.<ref name="Tushemereirwe-2004">{{Cite journal |last1=Tushemereirwe |first1=W. |last2=Kangire |first2=A. |last3=Ssekiwoko |first3=F. |last4=Offord |first4=L.C. |last5=Crozier |first5=J. |last6=Boa |first6=E. |last7=Rutherford |first7=M. |last8=Smith |first8=J.J. |title=First report of ''Xanthomonas campestris'' pv. ''musacearum'' on banana in Uganda |journal=Plant Pathology |volume=53 |date=2004 |page=802 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-3059.2004.01090.x |issue=6|bibcode=2004PPath..53..802T }}</ref> First identified on a close relative of bananas, ''Ensete ventricosum'', in Ethiopia in the 1960s,<ref name="Bradbury-1968">{{Cite journal |last1=Bradbury |first1=J.F. |last2=Yiguro |first2=D. |title=Bacterial wilt of Enset (''Ensete ventricosa'') incited by ''Xanthomonas musacearum'' |journal=Phytopathology |volume=58 |date=1968 |pages=111–112}}</ref> The disease was first seen in Uganda in 2001 affecting all banana cultivars. Since then it has been diagnosed in Central and East Africa, including the banana growing regions of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda.<ref name="Mwangi-2007">{{Cite journal |last1=Mwangi |first1=M. |last2=Bandyopadhyay |first2=R. |last3=Ragama |first3=P. |last4=Tushemereirwe |first4=R.K. |title=Assessment of banana planting practices and cultivar tolerance in relation to management of soilborne ''Xanthomonas campestris'' pv. ''musacearum'' |journal=Crop Protection |volume=26 |date=2007 |pages=1203–1208 |doi=10.1016/j.cropro.2006.10.017 |issue=8  |bibcode=2007CrPro..26.1203M }}</ref>

== Conservation of genetic diversity ==

[[File:ITC cold room.jpg|thumb|The cold storage room for the banana collection at Bioversity International's Musa Germplasm Transit Centre]]

Given the narrow range of genetic diversity present in bananas and the many threats via biotic (pests and diseases) and abiotic threats (such as drought) stress, conservation of the full spectrum of banana genetic resources is ongoing.<ref name="Genebank-2018">{{cite web |title=Banana |url=https://www.genebanks.org/resources/crops/banana/ |publisher=Genebank Platform|access-date=September 10, 2018 |date=2018 |archive-date=September 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910204332/https://www.genebanks.org/resources/crops/banana/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 2024, the economist Pascal Liu of the FAO described the impact of global warming as an "enormous threat" to the world supply of bananas.<ref name="McGrath-2024">{{cite news |last1=McGrath |first1=Matt |title=Banana prices to go up as temperatures rise, says expert |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68534309 |access-date=12 March 2024 |work=BBC News |date=12 March 2024}}</ref>

Banana germplasm is conserved in many national and regional gene banks, and at the world's largest banana collection, the International ''Musa'' Germplasm Transit Centre, managed by Bioversity International and hosted at KU Leuven in Belgium.<ref name="BioversityInternational-2018">{{cite web |title=International Musa Germplasm Transit Centre |url=https://www.bioversityinternational.org/banana-genebank/ |publisher=Bioversity International |access-date=September 10, 2018 |date=2018 |archive-date=September 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910164825/https://www.bioversityinternational.org/banana-genebank/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Since ''Musa'' cultivars are mostly seedless, they are conserved by three main methods: ''in vivo'' (planted in field collections), ''in vitro'' (as plantlets in test tubes within a controlled environment), and by cryopreservation (meristems conserved in liquid nitrogen at −196&nbsp;°C).<ref name="Genebank-2018"/>

Genes from wild banana species are conserved as DNA and as cryopreserved pollen.<ref name="Genebank-2018"/> Seeds from wild species are sometimes conserved, although less commonly, as they are difficult to regenerate. In addition, bananas and their crop wild relatives are conserved ''in situ'', in the wild natural habitats where they evolved and continue to do so. Diversity is also conserved in farmers' fields where continuous cultivation, adaptation and improvement of cultivars is often carried out by small-scale farmers growing traditional local cultivars.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.musalit.org/seeMore.php?id=1756/MusaNet |year=2016 |title=Global Strategy for the Conservation and Use of ''Musa'' Genetic Resources (B. Laliberté, compiler) |publisher=Bioversity International |location=Montpellier, France}}</ref>

== Nutrition ==

{{nutritionalvalue
|name=Bananas, raw (Daily Value)
|water=74.91 g
|kJ=371
|protein=1.09 g
|fat=0.33 g
|carbs=22.84 g
|fiber=2.6 g
|sugars=12.23 g
|iron_mg=0.26
|magnesium_mg=27
|phosphorus_mg=22
|potassium_mg=358
|sodium_mg=1
|zinc_mg=0.15
|manganese_mg=0.27
|copper_mg=0.101
|vitA_ug=19.2<!-- = 64 IU, converted so the daily thingy works -->
|vitC_mg=8.7
|thiamin_mg=0.031
|riboflavin_mg=0.073
|niacin_mg=0.665
|pantothenic_mg=0.334
|vitB6_mg=0.4
|folate_ug=20
|choline_mg=9.8
|source_usda=1
|note=[https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/1105314/nutrients Full Link to USDA Database entry]
 values are for edible portion
}}

A raw banana (not including the peel) is 75% water, 23% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and contains negligible fat. A reference amount of {{convert|100|g}} supplies 89 calories, 24% of the Daily Value of vitamin B<sub>6</sub>, and moderate amounts of vitamin C, manganese, potassium, and dietary fiber, with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

Although bananas are commonly thought to contain exceptional potassium content,<ref name="Edwards-2019">{{cite web |url=http://www.ccnr.org/About_Radioactive_Bananas.pdf |last=Edwards |first=Gordon |title=About radioactive bananas |publisher=Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility |date=2019 |access-date=April 24, 2019 |archive-date=May 15, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170515004842/http://www.ccnr.org/About_Radioactive_Bananas.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232283.php |title=Bananas! Eating Healthy Will Cost You; Potassium Alone $380 Per Year |work=Medical News Today |last=Kraft |first=S. |date=August 4, 2011 |access-date=October 25, 2014 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141025190815/http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232283.php |archive-date=October 25, 2014}}</ref> their actual potassium content is not high per typical food serving, having only 12% of the Daily Value for potassium (table). The potassium-content ranking for bananas among fruits, vegetables, legumes, and many other foods is medium.<ref name="FoodDataCentralUSDA-2023">{{cite web |url=https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/?component=1092 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190403171801/https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/?component=1092 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 3, 2019 |title=Ranking of potassium content per 100 grams in common foods ("Foundation" only for search filter)|publisher=FoodData Central, United States Department of Agriculture |date=2023|accessdate=26 February 2023}}</ref><ref name="EatRight Ontario, Dietitians of Canada-2019">{{cite web |title=What you need to know about potassium |url=http://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Vitamins-and-Minerals/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Potassium.aspx |publisher=EatRight Ontario, Dietitians of Canada |access-date=April 24, 2019 |date=2019 |archive-date=May 3, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503203524/http://www.unlockfood.ca/en/Articles/Vitamins-and-Minerals/What-You-Need-to-Know-About-Potassium.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref>

== Uses ==

=== Culinary ===

==== Fruit ====
{{See also|Cooking plantain|List of banana dishes}}
{{Cookbook}}

Bananas are a staple starch for many tropical populations. Depending upon cultivar and ripeness, the flesh can vary in taste from starchy to sweet, and texture from firm to mushy. Both the skin and inner part can be eaten raw or cooked. The primary component of the aroma of fresh bananas is isoamyl acetate (also known as ''banana oil''), which, along with several other compounds such as butyl acetate and isobutyl acetate, is a significant contributor to banana flavor.<ref name="Mui-2002">{{cite journal |title=Flavor and Texture of Banana Chips Dried by Combinations of Hot Air, Vacuum, and Microwave Processing |journal=Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry |date=2002 |volume=50 |issue=7 |pages=1883–1889 |doi=10.1021/jf011218n |pmid=11902928 |last1=Mui |first1=Winnie W.Y. |last2=Durance |first2=Timothy D. |last3=Scaman |first3=Christine H.|bibcode=2002JAFC...50.1883M }} "Isoamyl acetate (9.6%) imparts the characteristic aroma typical of fresh bananas (13, 17−20), while butyl acetate (8.1%) and isobutyl acetate (1.4%) are considered to be character impact compounds of banana flavor."</ref>

Plantains are eaten cooked, often as fritters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Williams |first1=Patrick |title=Roast bream with fried plantain fritters and coconut sauce |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/roastbreamwithfriedp_89189 |publisher=BBC |access-date=12 March 2024}}</ref> Pisang goreng, bananas fried with batter, is a popular street food in Southeast Asia.<ref name="Kraig-2013">{{cite book |last1=Kraig |first1=Bruce |last2=Sen |first2=Colleen Taylor |authorlink2=Colleen Taylor Sen |title=Street Food around the World: An Encyclopedia of Food and Culture |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9XCjAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2013 |page=183 |isbn=978-1-59884-955-4}}</ref> Bananas feature in Philippine cuisine, with desserts like ''maruya'' banana fritters.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Tsao |first1=Kimberley |title=Turon, maruya, bitso-bitso and banana cue make it to Taste Atlas's list of 100 most popular deep-fried desserts in the world |url=https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/food/860932/turon-maruya-bitso-bitso-and-bananacue-make-it-to-taste-atlas-s-list-of-100-most-popular-deep-fried-desser/story/ |publisher=GMA News |access-date=12 March 2024 |date=15 February 2023}}</ref> Bananas can be made into fruit preserves.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Aimi Azira |first1=S. |last2=Wan Zunairah |first2=W.I. |last3=Nor Afizah |first3=M. |last4=M.A.R. |first4=Nor-Khaizura |last5=S. |first5=Radhiah |last6=M.R. |first6=Ismail Fitry |last7=Z.A. |first7=Nur Hanani |title=Prevention of browning reaction in banana jam during storage by physical and chemical treatments |journal=Food Research |volume=5 |issue=5 |date=2021-09-10 |doi=10.26656/fr.2017.5(5).046 |pages=55–62 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Banana chips are a snack produced from sliced and fried bananas, such as in Kerala.<ref name="Pereira-2013">{{cite news |title=The taste of Kerala |url=http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/the-taste-of-kerala/article4605855.ece |access-date=January 3, 2014 |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu |first=Ignatius |last=Pereira |date=April 13, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131228161154/http://www.thehindu.com/features/magazine/the-taste-of-kerala/article4605855.ece |archive-date=December 28, 2013 }}</ref> Dried bananas are ground to make banana flour.<ref name="Coghlan-2014">{{cite web |last=Coghlan |first=Lea |title=Business goes bananas |work=Queensland Country Life |date=May 13, 2014 |url=https://www.queenslandcountrylife.com.au/story/3575483/business-goes-bananas/}}</ref> In Africa, matoke bananas are cooked in a sauce with meat and vegetables such as peanuts or beans to make the breakfast dish katogo.<ref>{{cite web |title=The king of all Uganda breakfasts |url=https://www.monitor.co.ug/SpecialReports/ugandaat50/-/1370466/1377136/-/ujj1orz/-/index.html |publisher=Monitor |access-date=19 July 2024 |date=31 March 2012}}</ref> In Western countries, bananas are used to make desserts such as banana bread.<ref>{{cite web |title=Banana bread |url=https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/brilliant-banana-loaf |publisher=BBC Good Food |access-date=19 July 2024}}</ref>

<gallery class="center" mode="nolines" widths="230px" heights="170px">
File:అరటికాయ మరియు నిమ్మకాయ పులుసు కూర.jpg|Banana curry with lemon, Andhra Pradesh, India
File:Pisang goreng in a basket.jpg|''Pisang goreng'' fried banana in batter, a popular snack in Indonesia
File:YosriPengatPisang.jpg|Banana in sweet gravy, known as ''pengat pisang'' in Malaysia
</gallery>

==== Flowers ====

{{Cookbook|Banana Blossom}}

Banana flowers (also called "banana hearts" or "banana blossoms") are used as a vegetable<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=B&wordid=3219&startno=1&endno=25 |title=Encyclopedia of Asian Food |year=1998 |last=Solomon |first=C. |publisher=New Holland Publishers |location=Australia |edition=Periplus |access-date=May 17, 2008 |isbn=978-0-85561-688-5 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080603142416/http://www.asiafood.org/glossary_1.cfm?alpha=B&wordid=3219&startno=1&endno=25 |archive-date=June 3, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.<ref>{{cite web |title=Banana Flowers |url=https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-banana-flowers-4065642 |publisher=The Spruce Eats |date=21 June 2022 |last=Watson |first=Molly |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140514041859/http://localfoods.about.com/od/Bananas/ss/Banana-Flowers.htm|archive-date=May 14, 2014}} See also the link on that page for Banana Flower Salad.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150">
File:Thanin market banana flowers and leaves.jpg|Banana flowers and leaves on sale in Thailand
File:Bananajf.jpg|''Kilawin na pusô ng saging'', a Filipino dish of banana flowers
</gallery>

==== Leaf ====

{{main|Banana leaf}}

Banana leaves are large, flexible, and waterproof. While generally too tough to actually be eaten, they are often used as ecologically friendly disposable food containers or as "plates" in South Asia and several Southeast Asian countries.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nace |first1=Trevor |title=Thailand Supermarket Ditches Plastic Packaging For Banana Leaves |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/25/thailand-supermarket-uses-banana-leaves-instead-of-plastic-packaging/ |access-date=March 26, 2019 |work=Forbes |date=March 25, 2019 |archive-date=March 26, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326004110/https://www.forbes.com/sites/trevornace/2019/03/25/thailand-supermarket-uses-banana-leaves-instead-of-plastic-packaging/amp/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In Indonesian cuisine, banana leaf is employed in cooking methods like pepes and botok; banana leaf packages containing food ingredients and spices are cooked in steam or in boiled water, or are grilled on charcoal. Certain types of tamales are wrapped in banana leaves instead of corn husks.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/confessions-of-a-foodie/story/2022-12-07/banana-leaves-transform-texture-of-chicken-tamales |title=Banana leaves transform texture of chicken tamales |newspaper=The San Diego Union-Tribune |date=December 7, 2022 }}</ref>

When used so for steaming or grilling, the banana leaves protect the food ingredients from burning and add a subtle sweet flavor.<ref name="Morton-2013"/> In South India, it is customary to serve traditional food on a banana leaf.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Grover |first1=Neha |title=Why South Indians Eat On Banana Leaves - Health Benefits And More |url=https://food.ndtv.com/health/why-south-indians-eat-on-banana-leaves-health-benefits-and-more-3640878 |publisher=NDTV |access-date=12 March 2024 |date=27 December 2022}}</ref> In Tamil Nadu (India), dried banana leaves are used as to pack food and to make cups to hold liquid food items.<ref name="Kora-2019">{{cite journal |last=Kora |first=Aruna Jyothi |title=Leaves as dining plates, food wraps and food packing material: Importance of renewable resources in Indian culture |journal=Bulletin of the National Research Centre |volume=43 |issue=1 |date=2019 |doi=10.1186/s42269-019-0231-6 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:Chicken satay on banana leaf in Java.jpg|Banana leaf as disposable plate for chicken satay in Java
File:Nacatamales in steamer.jpg|Nicaraguan Nacatamales, in banana leaves, ready to be steamed
</gallery>

==== Trunk ====

{{main|Banana pith}}

The tender core of the banana plant's trunk is also used in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Robert |first1=Claudia Saw Lwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZXQAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Banana+stem%22+%22Myanmar%22&pg=PT80 |title=The Food of Myanmar: Authentic Recipes from the Land of the Golden Pagodas |last2=Pe |first2=Win |last3=Hutton |first3=Wendy |date=2014-02-04 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-1-4629-1368-8}}</ref> Examples include the Burmese dish ''mohinga'', and the Filipino dishes ''inubaran'' and ''kadyos, manok, kag ubad''.<ref name="Polistico-2017a">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Polistico |first1=Edgie |title=Philippine Food, Cooking, & Dining Dictionary |date=2017 |publisher=Anvil Publishing |isbn=9786214200870 |entry=Inubaran}}</ref><ref name="Polistico-2017b">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Polistico |first1=Edgie |title=Philippine Food, Cooking, & Dining Dictionary |date=2017 |publisher=Anvil Publishing |isbn=9786214200870 |entry=Kadyos, Manok, Kag Ubad}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
Kaeng yuak.JPG|''Kaeng yuak'', a northern Thai curry of the core of the banana plant
</gallery>

=== Paper and textiles ===
{{further|Manila hemp|Banana paper}}
Fiber harvested from the pseudostems and leaves of the abacá banana (''Musa textilis'') and other bananas have been used for textiles in the Philippines since ancient times. Archaeological evidence of cloth-weaving tools like spindle whorls date back to the period between 1000 BC and 500 AD in the Philippines. However, the tropical environment and the sparsity of pre-colonial records makes it hard to trace its antiquity.<ref name=Hendrickx/><ref name="Blair">{{cite book |last1=Blair |first1=Emma Helen |last2=Robertson |first2=James Alexander |title=The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 |date=1903–1909 |publisher=Arthur H. Clark Company |location=Cleveland |url=https://mainlib.upd.edu.ph/the-philippine-islands-1493-1898-blair-and-robertson/}}</ref> Nevertheless, abacá bananas are the main source of fibers for traditional textiles still woven among various ethnic groups of the Philippines. Examples of abacá-based textiles include the ''t'nalak'', made by the Tiboli tribe of South Cotabato, and ''dagmay'', made by the Bagobo people.<ref>{{cite web |title=Philippine Basketry of the Luzon Cordillera {{pipe}} www.flysfo.cn |url=https://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/philippine-basketry-luzon-cordillera |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930085352/http://www.flysfo.com/museum/exhibitions/philippine-basketry-luzon-cordillera |archive-date=September 30, 2017 |access-date=June 17, 2019 |publisher=Flysfo.com |language=zh}}</ref> Traditional abacá cloth collected from the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period is found in museum collections around the world, like the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Textile Museum of Canada.<ref name="acl">{{cite web |title=Abaca cloth |url=http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/abaca-cloth-73450 |access-date=September 1, 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Banton Burial Cloth.JPG|thumb|The Banton Burial Cloth ({{circa|1200–1300 AD}}) of the Philippines, the oldest surviving example of banana textile (and the oldest example of warp ikat weaving in Southeast Asia). It is made from abacá,<ref name="ocampo">{{cite news |last1= Ocampo |first1= Ambeth R. |title= History and design in Death Blankets |work= Inquirer |date= 19 October 2011 |url= https://opinion.inquirer.net/15599/history-and-design-in-death-blankets |access-date= 2 June 2023 }}</ref> a species of banana endemic to the Philippines.]]
The oldest surviving example of textile made from banana fibers is the Banton Burial Cloth recovered from a coffin in the sacred Ipot Cave of Banton, Romblon, Philippines, and dated to around the 13th and 14th centuries.<ref name="ocampo"/><ref name="ccp">{{cite web |title=Banton Burial Cloth |url=https://epa.culturalcenter.gov.ph/3/82/2141/ |website=Cultural Center of the Philippines: Encyclopedia of Philippine Art |publisher=Cultural Center of the Philippines, Republic of the Philippines |access-date=6 June 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Textiles / Weaving |url=https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/ethnology/textiles-and-weaving/ |website=National Museum of the Philippines |publisher=National Museum of the Philippines, Republic of the Philippines |access-date=6 June 2025}}</ref> Abacá textiles were also mentioned numerous times in Spanish colonial records in the Philippines since the 16th century, eventually acquiring the Philippine Spanish name {{lang|es|medriñaque}} (entering the contemporary English language as "medrinacks", "medrianacks", "medrianackes", and "medrinacles", among other names) and the English name "Manila hemp". Aside from indigenous clothing for native Filipinos, {{lang|es|medriñaque}} was also used during the colonial era as canvas for sails and for stiffening clothing like skirts, collars, and doublets.<ref name=Hendrickx/><ref name="Craig">{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Austin |last2=Benitez |first2=Conrado |title=Philippine Progress Prior to 1898: A Source Book of Philippine History to Supply a Fairer View of Filipino Participation and Supplement the Defective Spanish Accounts |date=1916 |publisher=Philippine Education Co., Inc. |location=Manila}}</ref><ref name="Castro-Baker">{{cite book |last1=Castro-Baker |first1=Sandra |title=Textiles in the Philippine Landscape: A Lexicon and Historical Survey |date=2018 |publisher=Ateneo De Manila University Press |isbn=9789715508957}}</ref> The inner fibers are also used in the making of hats, including the "Manila hats", hammocks, matting, cordage, ropes, coarse twines, and Manila paper.<ref name="acl"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Textile Museum of Canada Collection and Exhibitions {{!}} Textile Museum of Canada Collection and Exhibitions |url=http://collections.textilemuseum.ca/index.cfm?page=collection.browse&sub=Yarn,_Fabric_and_Fabric_Finishing_Material&cat=ArtifactType&id=668 |access-date=September 1, 2015 |website=collections.textilemuseum.ca}}</ref> By the 19th century, abacá fiber had become one of the most important economic exports of the Philippines. They were in demand due to their strength and saltwater-resistance.<ref name=worcester>{{cite book | last = Worcester | first = Dean C. | title = The Philippine Islands and Their People | url = https://archive.org/details/philippineislan00worcgoog | publisher = The Macmillan Company | location = New York, NY | year = 1899 | orig-year = 1898 }}</ref> 

Outside the Philippines, abacá was first cultivated on a large scale in Sumatra in 1925 under the Dutch, who had observed its cultivation in the Philippines for cordage since the nineteenth century, followed up by plantings in Central America in 1929 sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.<ref name="eb">{{cite encyclopedia | editor-last = Hoiberg | editor-first = Dale H. | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | year = 2010 | volume = 1: A - ak Bayes | edition = 15th | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. | location = Chicago, Illinois | isbn = 978-0-85229-961-6 | title = Sbaca }}</ref> It also was transplanted into India and Guam.<ref name="wood">{{cite book | last1 = Wood | first1 = Frances A. | last2 = Roberts | first2 = George A. F. | editor1-last = Prance | editor1-first = Ghillean | editor2-last = Nesbitt | editor2-first = Mark | title = The Cultural History of Plants | publisher = Routledge | location = New York, NY | isbn = 0-415-92746-3 | year = 2005 }}</ref>

A similar tradition of weaving banana textiles (from ''Musa basjoo'' and ''Musa balbisiana'') also existed among the non-Han minority groups in southern China since at least the Han Dynasty ({{circa|202 BC-220 BC}}). Both fruit-bearing and fibrous banana species have been used.<ref name=Hendrickx>{{cite book |last1=Hendrickx |first1=Katrien |title=The Origins of Banana-fibre Cloth in the Ryukyus, Japan |publisher=Leuven University Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-9058676146 |page=188 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=ULyu8dNqS1sC|page=188}} |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327155254/https://books.google.com/books?id=ULyu8dNqS1sC&pg=PA188#v=onepage&q=banana%20textile |archive-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref> This textile tradition along with the banana species ''Musa basjoo'' (Japanese ''bashō'', 芭蕉) was introduced to the Ryukyu Islands of Japan at around the 14th century. In the Japanese system of kijōka-bashōfu, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarn-making. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibers of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, while the softest innermost fibers are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese cloth-making process requires many steps, all performed by hand.<ref>{{cite web |title=Traditional Crafts of Japan – Kijoka Banana Fiber Cloth |publisher=Association for the Promotion of Traditional Craft Industries |url=http://www.kougei.or.jp/english/crafts/0130/f0130.html |access-date=December 11, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104231743/http://www.kougei.or.jp/english/crafts/0130/f0130.html |archive-date= November 4, 2006 |url-status=live}}</ref> Banana paper can be made either from the bark of the banana plant, mainly for artistic purposes, or from the fibers of the stem and non-usable fruits. The paper may be hand-made or industrially processed.<ref>{{cite book |last=Gupta |first=K.M. |title=Engineering Materials: Research, Applications and Advances |date=November 13, 2014 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-148225798-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNbMBQAAQBAJ&q=%C2%A0Banana+fiber+is+used+in+the+production+of+banana+paper&pg=PA181 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180327155254/https://books.google.com/books?id=yNbMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA181#v=onepage&q=%C2%A0Banana%20fiber%20is%20used%20in%20the%20production%20of%20banana%20paper |archive-date=March 27, 2018}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px">
File:USAID Measuring Impact Conservation Enterprise Retrospective (Philippines; Kalahan Educational Foundation) (40246611432).jpg|''T'nalak'' cloth of the T'boli dreamweavers, one of the many types of traditional abacá cloths in the Philippines
File:14-QWSTION-BANANATEX-STRIPPING-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|Abacá fibers being stripped using traditional methods in the Philippines
File:48-QWSTION-BANANATEX-LOOM-LAUSCHSICHT.jpg|Weaving looms processing Manila hemp fabric
File:QWSTION Flap tote small.jpg|A modern Manila hemp bag
</gallery>

=== Other uses ===

The large leaves of bananas are locally used as umbrellas.<ref name="Morton-2013">{{cite book |last=Morton |first=Julia F. |title=Fruits of warm climates|chapter=Banana|publisher=Echo Point Books & Media |date=2013 |isbn=978-1-62654-976-0 |oclc=861735500 |pages=29–46 |url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html#Other%20Uses|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090415160027/http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/banana.html|archive-date= April 15, 2009 |url-status=live|via=www.hort.purdue.edu}}</ref> Banana peel may have capability to extract heavy metal contamination from river water, similar to other purification materials.<ref>{{cite web |last=Minard |first=Anne |title=Is That a Banana in Your Water? |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110311-water-pollution-lead-heavy-metal-banana-peel-innovation/ |website=National Geographic |access-date=March 15, 2011 |date=March 11, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110426022233/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/03/110311-water-pollution-lead-heavy-metal-banana-peel-innovation/ |archive-date= April 26, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Banana Peel Applied to the Solid Phase Extraction of Copper and Lead from River Water: Preconcentration of Metal Ions with a Fruit Waste |doi=10.1021/ie101499e |volume=50 |issue=6 |date=2011 |last1=Castro |first1=Renata S.D. |last2=Caetano |first2=LaéRcio |last3=Ferreira |first3=Guilherme |last4=Padilha |first4=Pedro M. |last5=Saeki |first5=Margarida J. |last6=Zara |first6=Luiz F. |last7=Martines |first7=Marco Antonio U. |last8=Castro |first8=Gustavo R. |display-authors=6 |journal=Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research |pages=3446–3451 |url=http://repositorio.unsm.edu.pe/handle/11458/3287 |access-date=September 3, 2019 |archive-date=December 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222075112/http://repositorio.unsm.edu.pe/handle/11458/3287 |url-status=live}}</ref> Waste bananas can be used to feed livestock.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Heuzé |first1=V. |last2=Tran |first2=G. |last3=Archimède |first3=H. |last4=Renaudeau |first4=D. |last5=Lessire |first5=M. |year=2016 |title=Banana fruits |work=Feedipedia, a programme by INRA, CIRAD, AFZ and FAO |url=https://www.feedipedia.org/node/683 |access-date=February 20, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180221100008/https://www.feedipedia.org/node/683 |archive-date=February 21, 2018 }} Last updated on March 25, 2016, 10:36</ref> As with all living things, potassium-containing bananas emit radioactivity at low levels occurring naturally from the potassium-40 (K-40) isotope.<ref name="Frame-2009">{{cite web |first1=Paul |last1=Frame |title=General information about K-40 |url=https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/potassiumgeneralinfo.htm |publisher=Oak Ridge National Laboratory |access-date=April 24, 2019 |date=January 20, 2009 |archive-date=December 23, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223124013/https://www.orau.org/ptp/collection/consumer%20products/potassiumgeneralinfo.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The banana equivalent dose of radiation was developed in 1995 as a simple teaching-tool to educate the public about the natural, small amount of K-40 radiation occurring in everyone and in common foods.<ref name="Mansfield-1995">{{cite web |last=Mansfield |first=Gary |title=Banana equivalent dose |url=http://health.phys.iit.edu/extended_archive/9503/msg00074.html |publisher=Internal Dosimetry, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California |access-date=April 24, 2019 |date=March 7, 1995 |archive-date=August 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110817184004/http://health.phys.iit.edu/extended_archive/9503/msg00074.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Edwards-2019"/>

=== Potential allergic reaction ===

Individuals with a latex allergy may experience a reaction to handling or eating bananas.<ref name="pollart">{{cite journal |last1=Pollart |first1=S.M. |last2=Warniment |first2=C. |last3=Mori |first3=T. |title=Latex allergy |journal=American Family Physician |volume=80 |issue=12 |pages=1413–8 |date=December 2009 |pmid=20000303 |url=https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2009/1215/p1413.html}}</ref><ref name="Taylor-2004">{{cite journal |last1=Taylor |first1=J.S. |last2=Erkek |first2=E. |date=2004 |title=Latex allergy: diagnosis and management |journal=Dermatologic Therapy |volume=17 |issue=4 |pages=289–301 |pmid=15327474 |doi=10.1111/j.1396-0296.2004.04024.x |s2cid=24748498 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Cultural roles ==

[[File:Chhat Puja Worship Material.jpg|thumb|Bananas used in puja in the Hindu festival of Chhath in Northern India]]

=== Arts ===

The Edo period poet Matsuo Bashō is named after the Japanese word 芭蕉 ({{lang|ja|Bashō}}) for the Japanese banana. The {{lang|ja|Bashō}} planted in his garden by a grateful student became a source of inspiration to his poetry, as well as a symbol of his life and home.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Shirane |first=Haruo |title=Traces of Dreams: Landscape, Cultural Memory, and the Poetry of Bashō |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-8047-3099-0 |location=Stanford |page=64}}</ref>

The song "Yes! We Have No Bananas" was written by Frank Silver and Irving Cohn and originally released in 1923; for many decades, it was the best-selling sheet music in history. Since then the song has been rerecorded several times and has been particularly popular during banana shortages.<ref name="Shaw-1987">{{cite book |first =Arnold |last =Shaw |title =The Jazz Age: Popular Music in 1920s |chapter ="Yes! We have No Bananas"/"Charleston" (1923) |publisher =Oxford University Press |year =1987 |page =132 |isbn =9780195060829 |chapter-url ={{google books |plainurl=y |id=MECLMrzcC9kC132Yes!%20We%20Have%20No%20Bananas |page=132}} |url-status=live |archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20170223045222/https://books.google.com/books?id=MECLMrzcC9kC&lpg=PA132&pg=PA132#v=onepage&q=Yes!%20We%20Have%20No%20Bananas |archive-date =February 23, 2017 |df =mdy-all}}</ref><ref name="oeppel-2005">{{cite journal |author=Dan Koeppel |date=2005 |title=Can This Fruit Be Saved? |journal=Popular Science |volume=267 |issue=2 |pages=60–70 |url={{google books |plainurl=y |id=aAJ8pAwSkkUC62}} |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170222190916/https://books.google.com/books?id=aAJ8pAwSkkUC&lpg=PA62&pg=PA60#v=onepage&q=Yes!%20We%20Have%20No%20Bananas%20shortage |archive-date=February 22, 2017}}</ref>

A person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. An American comedy recording from 1910 features a popular character of the time, "Uncle Josh", claiming to describe his own such incident.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/CalStewart_part2 |title=Collected Works of Cal Stewart part 2 |access-date=November 17, 2010 |last=Stewart |first=Cal |website=Uncle Josh in a Department Store (1910) |publisher=The Internet Archive }}</ref>

The banana's suggestively phallic shape has been exploited in artworks from Giorgio de Chirico's 1913 painting ''The Uncertainty of the Poet'' onwards. In 2019, an exhibition of Natalia LL's video and set of photographs showing a woman "sucking on a banana" at the National Museum in Warsaw was taken down and the museum's director reprimanded.<ref name="Jones-2019">{{cite news |last1=Jones |first1=Jonathan |title=Bananas in art: a short history of the salacious, disturbing and censored fruit |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/shortcuts/2019/apr/30/bananas-most-political-fruit-history-art-natalia-ll-censored |work=The Guardian |date=30 April 2019}}</ref> The cover artwork for the 1967 debut album of The Velvet Underground features a banana made by Andy Warhol. On the original vinyl LP version, the design allowed the listener to "peel" this banana to find a pink, peeled banana on the inside.<ref name="DeMain-2011">{{cite web |url=http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/109881 |title=The Stories Behind 11 Classic Album Covers |author=Bill DeMain |date=11 December 2011 |publisher=mental_floss |access-date=6 January 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121028180601/http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/109881 |archive-date=28 October 2012}}</ref> In 1989, the feminist Guerilla Girls made a screenprint with two bananas, intentionally reminiscent of Warhol's, arranged to form a "0" to answer the question in the artwork, "How many works by women artists were in the Andy Warhol and Tremaine auctions at Sotheby's?".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Armstrong |first1=Annie |title=A Guide to the Banana In (Feminist) Art History |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/a-guide-to-the-banana-in-feminist-art-history/ |website=Vice |access-date=19 July 2024 |date=17 December 2019}}</ref>

Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan created a 2019 concept art piece titled ''Comedian''<ref>{{cite news |last=O'Neil |first=Luke |title=One banana, what could it cost? $120,000 – if it's art |date=6 December 2019 |work=The Guardian |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-date=30 December 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/dec/06/maurizio-cattelan-banana-duct-tape-comedian-art-basel-miami |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230170749/https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/dec/06/maurizio-cattelan-banana-duct-tape-comedian-art-basel-miami |url-status=live}}</ref> involving taping a banana to a wall using silver duct tape. The piece was exhibited briefly at the Art Basel in Miami before being removed from the exhibition and eaten without permission in another artistic stunt titled ''Hungry Artist'' by New York artist David Datuna.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/arts/design/banana-removed-art-basel.html |title=Banana Splits: Spoiled by Its Own Success, the $120,000 Fruit Is Gone |last=Pogrebin |first=Robin |date=8 December 2019 |work=The New York Times |access-date=25 December 2019 |archive-date=15 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191215171600/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/08/arts/design/banana-removed-art-basel.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Religion and folklore ===

[[File:XRF-Tani-.jpg|thumb |upright |''Nang Tani'', the female ghost of Thai folklore that haunts banana plants]]
In India, bananas serve a prominent part in many festivals and occasions of Hindus. In South Indian weddings, particularly Tamil weddings, banana trees are tied in pairs to form an arch as a blessing to the couple for a long-lasting, useful life.<ref name="Indian Mirror">{{cite web |title=Banana trees in weddings |publisher=Indian Mirror |url=https://www.indianmirror.com/culture/indian-folklore/Banana-Tree.html |access-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824124514/https://www.indianmirror.com/culture/indian-folklore/Banana-Tree.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="EarthstOriez-2017">{{cite web |title=Legends, myths and folklore of the banana tree in India - its use in traditional culture |publisher=EarthstOriez |date=May 2, 2017 |url=https://www.earthstoriez.com/india-banana/ |access-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-date=August 24, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824195320/https://www.earthstoriez.com/india-banana/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

In Thailand, it is believed that a certain type of banana plant may be inhabited by a spirit, Nang Tani, a type of ghost related to trees and similar plants that manifests itself as a young woman.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thailand-amulets.net/?p=3485 |title=Banana Tree Prai Lady Ghost |publisher=Thailand-amulets.net |date=March 19, 2012 |access-date=August 26, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108095417/http://thailand-amulets.net/?p=3485 |archive-date=November 8, 2012 }}</ref> People often tie a length of colored satin cloth around the pseudostem of the banana plants.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thaiworldview.com/bouddha/animism5.htm |title=Spirits |publisher=Thaiworldview.com |access-date=August 26, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630004429/http://thaiworldview.com/bouddha/animism5.htm |archive-date=June 30, 2012 }}</ref>

In Malay folklore, the ghost known as Pontianak is associated with banana plants (''pokok pisang''), and its spirit is said to reside in them during the day.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.castleofspirits.com/pontianak.html |title=Pontianak- South East Asian Vampire |publisher=Castleofspirits.com |access-date=May 13, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720203622/http://castleofspirits.com/pontianak.html |archive-date=July 20, 2014 }}</ref>

=== Racial signifier ===

{{See also|List of ethnic slurs#Banana|Racism in sport}}

In European, British, and Australian sport, throwing a banana at a member of an opposing team has long been used as a form of racial abuse.<ref name="Mills-2016">{{cite web |last1=Mills |first1=Charles W. |last2=Hund |first2=Wulf D. |title=Comparing black people to monkeys has a long, dark simian history |url=https://theconversation.com/comparing-black-people-to-monkeys-has-a-long-dark-simian-history-55102 |website=The Conversation |access-date=13 July 2024 |date=29 February 2016}}</ref><ref name="Jackson-2014">{{cite web |title=The ugly, racist trend of tossing bananas at black soccer players continues |first=Allison |last=Jackson |website=The World |date=13 May 2014 |url=https://theworld.org/stories/2014-05-13/ugly-racist-trend-tossing-bananas-black-soccer-players-continues |access-date=13 July 2024 |others=Agence France-Presse, GlobalPost}}</ref> The act, which was commonplace in England in the 1980s, is meant to taunt players of Black African ancestry by equating them to apes or monkeys.<ref name="Evans-2016">{{cite news |last1=Evans |first1=Richard |title=Richard Evans: Throwing bananas at black sportsmen has been recognised as racism across Europe for decades |url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opinion/richard-evans-throwing-bananas-at-black-sportsmen-has-been-recognised-as-racism-across-europe-for-decades/news-story/afcb5d4a634119b327507e7616755e0b |access-date=13 July 2024 |work=The Advertiser |date=22 August 2016 |location=Adelaide}}</ref>

== See also ==

* Corporación Bananera Nacional
* Domesticated plants and animals of Austronesia
* Orange, another fruit exported and consumed in large quantities
* ''United Brands Company v Commission of the European Communities''{{Clear}}

== References ==

{{reflist|30em}}

== Bibliography ==

{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Nelson |first1=S.C. |last2=Ploetz |first2=R.C. |last3=Kepler |first3=A.K. |date=2006 |chapter=''Musa'' species (bananas and plantains) |editor-last=Elevitch |editor-first=C.R. |title=Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry |location=Hōlualoa, Hawai'i |publisher=Agroforestry Net, Inc |chapter-url=http://agroforestry.net/tti/Musa-banana-plantain.pdf |access-date=January 10, 2013 |archive-date=February 28, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140228051958/http://agroforestry.net/tti/Musa-banana-plantain.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last=Office of the Gene Technology Regulator |date=2008 |title=The Biology of ''Musa'' L. (banana) |publisher=Australian Government |url=http://www.ogtr.gov.au/internet/ogtr/publishing.nsf/content/banana-3/$FILE/biologybanana08.pdf |access-date=January 30, 2013 |archive-date=December 3, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121203022848/http://www.ogtr.gov.au/internet/ogtr/publishing.nsf/content/banana-3/$FILE/biologybanana08.pdf|url-status=dead}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Ploetz |first1=R.C. |last2=Kepler |first2=A.K. |last3=Daniells |first3=J. |last4=Nelson |first4=S.C. |date=2007 |chapter=Banana and Plantain: An Overview with Emphasis on Pacific Island Cultivars |editor-last=Elevitch |editor-first=C.R. |title=Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry |location=Hōlualoa, Hawai'i |publisher=Permanent Agriculture Resources |chapter-url=http://agroforestry.net/tti/Banana-plantain-overview.pdf |access-date=January 10, 2013  |archive-date=January 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101232525/http://agroforestry.net/images/pdfs/Banana-plantain-overview.pdf |url-status=live }}
* {{Cite book |last1=Stover |first1=R.H. |last2=Simmonds |first2=N.W. |date=1987 |title=Bananas |edition=3rd |location=Harlow, England |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-46357-8}}
* {{Cite book |last1=Valmayor |first1=Ramón V. |last2=Jamaluddin |first2=S.H. |last3=Silayoi |first3=B. |last4=Kusumo |first4=S. |last5=Danh |first5=L.D. |last6=Pascua |first6=O.C. |last7=Espino |first7=R.R.C. |date=2000 |title=Banana cultivar names and synonyms in Southeast Asia |location=Los Baños, Philippines |publisher=International Network for Improvement of Banana and Plantain – Asia and the Pacific Office |isbn=978-971-91751-2-4 |url=http://kukr.lib.ku.ac.th/Fulltext_kukr/KU0222075c.pdf |access-date=January 8, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130530235053/http://kukr.lib.ku.ac.th/Fulltext_kukr/KU0222075c.pdf |archive-date=May 30, 2013 |url-status=dead}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Bananas}}
* {{Cookbook-inline|Banana}}
* [http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:797527-1 Kew plant profile: ''Musa acuminata'' (banana)]

{{Banana}}
{{Authority control}}

Bananas
Category:Berries
Category:Fruits originating in Asia
Category:Fiber plants
Category:Staple foods
Category:Tropical agriculture
Category:Tropical fruit
Category:Edible fruits
Category:Austronesian agriculture