What a banana is and what it tastes like, everyone knows today, and in this article we will talk about the species diversity of these plants, about where the bananas are home, in which countries they are cultivated and what indoor banana is.
What is a banana?
So, from the point of view of botany, a banana is a tall, perennial herbaceous plant belonging to the banana family (lat.: Músa). Please note that by this word we mean both the plant itself and its edible fruit.
An unusual name - Músa - was given to these plants by the Dutch botanist of German origin Georg Rumf who first lived in the XYII century, who first described them. There are several versions about why Rumph took this word. One of them, which seems most likely today, reports that the botanist borrowed this "muse" from the Arabs, who called it bananas. Since then, the word has remained unchanged in the modern botanical classification.
In general, the fruits of this plant are classified as berries. Few people know that a real banana in nature is a multi-seeded berry with a thick peel.
By the way, only the process of cultivation and vegetative propagation (by separating the shoots or part of the rhizomes) made it possible to grow bananas without seeds. So there was a banana paradise (Musa paradisiaca) - the one that most of us see on the shelves of supermarkets. Two original species are considered its "ancestors" - dwarf banana and balbis banana. The cultivation of this plant for many tropical countries today is the most important export item, which is second only to cereals.
Grass, palm or tree?
The real trunk of this plant is very small, sometimes it protrudes above the surface of the earth only a few centimeters (from 5 to 30), then go huge leaves tightly adjacent to each other with petioles and sinuses - they form a “false trunk” that rises above land sometimes at a considerable, sometimes up to 10 meters, height. This general impression of a often powerful, remotely resembling a scaly trunk allows many to call the plant a “banana tree” or “palm tree”.
In reality, banana trees are a pawpaw, plants that belong to a completely different family - annonaceae. Their fruits have only a distant resemblance to bananas, but azimins are considered extratropical and grow in some southern and southeastern American states.
Bananas cannot be attributed to palm trees, since these are plants, they belong to a completely different family, namely palm trees. Therefore, the question of where the birthplace of the banana palm is located can be considered incorrect.
All bananas are multi-flowered plants. Each of the flowers consists of several tubular petals and usually three sepals. Most banana flowers are white, but there are still external leaves covering them, which are light purple, pink or double-sided, in different shades. In addition, different species of this plant have different inflorescences - upright or drooping.
The flowers are so large that they are pollinated not by insects, but by bats - at night and by birds - in daylight. Mammals, for example, small varieties of monkeys, can also "work" as pollinators.
Homeland and Origin of Banana
It is believed that this plant is one of the oldest cultivated by man. This is about Asia Minor. The banana cultivation culture is rooted in times as ancient as the beginning of rice cultivation and sugarcane cultivation.
Gradually, this plant spread and became a "citizen" of the countries of the tropics and subtropics, and this is the land of South Asia, Latin America, Malaysia, some regions of Australia, Africa and even Japan.
Where do bananas grow, in which countries? In many southern lands, bananas are the main source of nutrition. For example, in Ecuador, the annual per capita consumption rate of bananas is 73.8 kg, while in Burundi it is slightly less than 190 kg.
Today, bananas are industrially cultivated in Bhutan (a small state located between India and China), Sri Lanka, India, Nepal, China, Bangladesh, Thailand, Pakistan, Brazil. They tried to acclimatize this giant grass in Russia, in areas near Sochi, but the banana did not stubbornly withstand winter temperatures below zero degrees, and under prolonged adverse weather conditions the berries could not ripen.
Banana varieties
In addition to the banana of paradise, with the fruits of which we are well acquainted, there are many varieties of this plant - in other words, the banana family is quite numerous. To date, approximately 200 varieties of this fruit plant are known. Among them are edible, as well as decorative and even technical, the leaves of which are used for fiber production. The flesh of edible bananas is eaten fresh, and also fried, dried. Marmalade and jam are also boiled from it, syrups and wines are prepared. From the powder of some mealy banana varieties, bread is baked.
The colors of the grown bananas are mostly yellow, but in the variety of varieties there are blue, red, and white-green, as well as striped bananas and having a rectangular (it is said to be square) section shape.
Let us consider for clarity only a few species of this plant.
Chinese dwarf banana
Dwarf banana (Musa acuminata) grows in southern China. Otherwise, it is called dessert or spicy. This plant is usually one and a half to two meters tall. It grows well in tubs or containers, will successfully fit and decorate any interior, as well as a room palm. The homeland of indoor banana is South Asia, so the plant, like all its brethren, does not tolerate low temperatures.
Before the inflorescence appears, at least forty rather large leaves should usually appear, and about a hundred days are required for the fruit to ripen. Inflorescences consist of tubular flowers, purple in the outer part. Inside they are dark red, filled with nectar. Flowers surround the trunk of a banana tree in two layers.
A dwarf banana with proper care after a year and a half forms an inflorescence, which will soon please the owner with a whole bunch (sometimes they say - with a brush) of small but edible fruits. Their length is usually from 3-5, rarely up to 30 cm, they are green or greenish-yellowish with white flesh. After the fruits ripen, the trunk will die, and a new shoot will appear from the tuber.
A dwarf indoor banana can bloom and bear fruit all year round.
Balbis Banana
The birthplace of the banana plant of this species is India and Sri Lanka. Latin name - Musa balbisiana.
It is much higher than the dwarf one - 3 meters, but this is due to the large leaf blades. According to the outlines, they have a chopped end and a heart-shaped base. The fruits of this type of banana are up to 10 cm long, yellowish, quickly blackening. Although they are sweet, they have seeds.
These bananas are an important crop because they are used as feed for pigs. Non-mature fruits are preserved.
Banana Banks (Musa banksii)
The birthplace of bananas of this species is North Australia.
The plant reaches four meters in height and has one and a half meter leaves. Such a giant involuntarily reminds the beholder of palm trees. Although in reality, we repeat, a banana is not a tree and not a palm tree at all, but a grass.
Banana Japanese and others
Although this plant is in Japan, the country itself cannot be called the birthplace of bananas. He appeared on this earth a long time ago, being imported from mainland China. Its fruits here do not ripen and cannot be called edible. Sometimes they are fried like potatoes.
Otherwise, a Japanese banana is called textile or technical - fiber is obtained from leaf sheaths for the production of cables and ropes, which are particularly durable and practically not rot. Screens, book bindings, some types of clothing and even wickerwork are also made from these fibers.
Banana Manna (Musa mannii) has very beautiful and large inflorescences, but its fruits are inedible. The country where Mann bananas grow in the wild is India. The height of the plant is approximately comparable with the growth of a person, so its inflorescences are very convenient for observing visitors. For these reasons, manna banana is often bred in greenhouses and botanical gardens.
Ethiopian, red-flowered, velvety, etc. are also bred as decorative crops.
Bananas in stock. Cavendish
But under what names do these fruits appear on the shelves of our stores. Consider them by taste and appearance, without delving into biological characteristics. It should also be borne in mind that the name of the banana variety has several possible variations.
One of the most common varieties of bananas in the modern store-market assortment is the banana of the Cavendish variety. Each fruit has a length of 25 or so centimeters. They are usually picked green, immature (the birthplace of bananas is Malaysia, but they are grown in many hot countries), after which they are sent to the consumer. The ripening process begins when the fruits are treated with a special mixture. Typically, this is a gas mixture of nitrogen and ethylene. When ripening, the appearance of small brown specks is considered normal. However, a fruit that has become brown or has large chocolate-colored spots is considered overripe.
A miniature variety of Cavendish is a banana, which received the name ladies' fingers (other variants of the name are baby or mini). This banana variety does not have any special gastronomic differences, except perhaps for portion appeal. Small bananas are convenient as a light snack, and are also popular with children.
Manzano
Manzano bananas are also unusual - their fruits have a reddish-brown, blackish or maroon color in maturity. Yellow color, unlike most bananas, indicates the immaturity of the berry.
Manzano fruit has a light apple and strawberry flavor. Its flesh is tougher than that of an ordinary berry and tastes like an apple in taste (hence another version of the name - "apple"). Among bananas, this variety is a record holder for vitamin C content: 100 grams of pulp contains a quarter of the daily dose a person needs.
Manzano is eaten both fresh and used in the preparation of various dishes. Another distinguishing feature is the flesh that does not darken in the air. This allows her to maintain an aesthetic appearance for a long time, why this variety is used for the preparation of salads and a variety of desserts.
The homeland of these bananas is Central and South Africa. And the largest supplier today is Costa Rica.
