Banana

Banana
Peeled, whole, and cross section
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Musaceae
Genus:	Musa

A banana is the common name for a type of fruit and also the name for the herbaceous plants that grow it. These plants belong to the genus Musa. They are native to the tropical region of southeast Asia.

Historians think the first people to grow bananas for food lived in Papua New Guinea.^[1] Today, they are cultivated in tropical regions around the world.^[2] Most banana plants are grown for their fruits, which botanically are a type of berry. Some are grown as ornamental plants, or for their fibres.

There are about 110 different species of banana. In popular culture and commerce, "banana" usually refers to the soft and sweet kind, also known as dessert bananas. Other kinds, or cultivars, of banana have a firmer, starchier fruit. Those are usually called plantains. Plantains are mostly used for cooking or fibre.

Other than being used as food, beer can be made by fermenting the juice of certain cultivars in Africa, known as beer bananas.^[3] The ash of bananas can be used to make soap.^[3] In Asia, bananas are often planted to provide shade to plants that like shade, for example coffee, cocoa, nutmeg or black pepper.^[3] Because of this, banana plants can often be found in plantations of other crops.

1. ↑ "Tracing antiquity of banana cultivation in Papua New Guinea". The Australia & Pacific Science Foundation. Archived from the original on 2007-08-29. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
2. ↑ "agroforestry.net" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2009-07-17.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2} "Uses of Musa" (PDF). UNCTAD. 1996. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2009-08-05.