The Banana Tree is a tropical herbaceous perennial (and not actually a real tree) in the family Musaceae. They are native to Southeast Asia, China, Madagascar and Africa. Forty million years ago, bananas were also native to North America as far north as Oregon. There are 3 genera of bananas; Ensete, Musa, and Musella. These genera are widely cultivated in hot, wet regions between the equator and 30N/S. The cold tolerant taxa come from high altitude locations in the tropics. The family Musaceae is closely related to other well known ornamental tropicals such as Bird-of-Paradise (Strelitziaceae), Canna Lily (Cannaceae), the tropical gingers (Zingiberaceae) and Heliconia (Heliconaceae).
Bananas have been cultivated as a food for 4,000-10,000 years in tropical areas. However, Europeans were not aware of the fruit until they started exploring the world during the Age of Discovery in the 1500's. Edible bananas were not introduced to America until 1876 during the Philadelphia World Exposition. Today there are several hundred cultivars of edible bananas grown around the world. However, since the 1960's, only one cultivar has been used to produce the yellow dessert bananas eaten in the U.S. and Europe; Musa acuminata 'Cavendish'. The 'Cavendish' banana is a sterile triploid. It produces fruit in the absence of pollination (parthenocarpy) and therefore does not have any seeds. Most edible bananas belong to Musa acuminata or to Musa balbisiana (or are hybrids between). Hybrids are given the species name Musa paradisiaca. In addition to the sweet dessert varieties, there are starchy, unsweet cooking bananas that are used in a manner similar to how Americans use potatoes. These cooking bananas are sometimes known as plantains and are commonly boiled, baked, or fried. In America, we generally call the sweet fruits (that are eaten raw) bananas, and the starchy fruits (that must be cooked) plantains. Musa and Ensete may be eaten in other ways too. The Chinese eat the immature male flower and many cultures use the rhizomes and the stem as food or fodder. Bananas may also be dried and eaten as a chip or ground into flour. Bananas are the 4th largest fruit crop in the world behind apples, citrus, and grapes and are a staple food in some parts of the world.
The era of the 'Cavendish' banana may be coming to an end. Over the last few years a fungal pathogen called Panama disease (Fusarum oxysporum f. sp. cubense) Tropical Race 4 has evolved that attacks and kills 'Cavendish' plants. It has wiped out 'Cavendish' in almost all of Asia. There is no known preventative or cure for it and it spreads extremely quickly. If the fungus ever reaches Central America, the monoculture 'Cavendish' farms that supply the U.S. will be decimated. Ironically it was a different race of the same disease that allowed the 'Cavendish' to become so popular in the first place. 'Cavendish' replaced the sweeter and larger 'Gros Michael' banana in the 1950's which was also wiped out by a race of Panama disease. There is currently no replacement for the 'Cavendish' banana that is tolerant of Panama disease and has the all the traits that American consumers demand. The next best choice is a cultivar called 'Goldfinger' which is not as sweet and has a slight tart-apple flavor. However, the best long term solution is not to replace a single monoculture crop with another monoculture crop, but rather to adopt the sustainable practice of growing and eating multiple cultivars of banana.
Bananas also have non-food uses. Ensete and Musa banana stems and leaves are used for their fibers. The course fibers are called manilla hemp and are used to make paper and rope. The fine fibers are used to make high quality cloth called banana cloth. Banana leaves are waterproof and are often used to wrap food for storage or cooking. The Fehi group of bananas. grown in Polynesia are used to make a red dye (that will also turn your urine red if you eat them). Bananas are used by certain cultures to treat medical disorders such as bronchitis, ulcers, diabetes, hemorrhoids (don't ask me how!), and diarrhea among other things. Central Americans collect the sap of the red banana and take it as an aphrodisiac (although this may be a fallacy...or is it 'phallacy') while the Hindus regard the plant as a symbol of fertility and place the leaves and fruits on the doorstep of newlyweds. In the 60's it was popular to smoke banana peel for its alleged hallucinogenic affects (what didn't they smoke back then?) but the original newspaper story (The Berkeley Barb, March 1967) that reported this fad was a hoax that fooled the nation.
Bananas are such an important and profitable food crop that the companies that produce them (primarily United Fruit Company, known today as Chiquita and the Standard Fruit Company, known today as Dole) have grown extremely powerful. Their influence on Central American politics has lead to the term 'Banana Republic' (coined by the author O'Henry in his 1904 book Cabbages and Kings) which is a pejorative term for a small, unstable, country run by wealthy, corrupt elites who support the exploitation of people and land for cheap banana production by taking bribes and kickbacks from the banana companies. Hmmm...Large companies influencing public policy. Good thing that could never happen in the U.S.
Tony Avent