Banana

A banana is an elongated, edible fruit produced by several large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. Botanically, the fruit is a berry that grows in clusters near the top of the plant. Bananas are typically curved, with soft, starchy flesh and a peel that turns yellow, often with brown speckles, as the fruit ripens. The plants themselves are not trees but large herbaceous plants with a pseudostem formed from tightly wrapped leaf bases.

Most cultivated bananas are seedless and derived from hybrids of two wild species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Bananas are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia and were probably domesticated in New Guinea. They are grown in many tropical countries and are a major staple food in some regions. In parts of the world, especially the Americas and Europe, a distinction is often made between dessert bananas and cooking bananas, the latter commonly called plantains; this distinction is less clear in Southeast Asia.

Bananas may be eaten raw or cooked, and are used in a wide range of dishes, from curries to banana chips, fritters, and preserves. Some varieties are also used for banana paper, textiles, or ornament. Commercial production is dominated by seedless cultivars such as the Cavendish banana. Banana cultivation faces serious threats from pests and diseases, including Panama disease and black sigatoka, which have prompted efforts to conserve germplasm and develop new varieties.