Banana tree

Bunch of bananas

Description

A plant from the family Musaceae. Banana plants, such as the Musa sapientum, are grown in most tropical areas, such as the Philippines, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Africa, for its fruit. Several type of fibers obtained from the leaves of banana plants (see banana fiber). Banana paper is a handmade, decorative paper produced from the pulp of banana stalks.

Synonyms and Related Terms

Musaceae; Musa sapientum; bananplante (Dan.); Banane (Deut.); plátano (Esp.); banana (Esp., It., Port.); banano (Esp.); cambur (Esp.); guineo (Esp.); banane (Fr.); banaan (Ned.); banan (Nor., Pol., Sven.)

Banana tree

Other Properties

Palm-like tree growing to 25 m with large arching leaves (10 feet long) that are often split and torn.

Authority

• Website address 1 Comment: Virginia Tech Dendrology website at www.fw.vt.edu/dendro/dendrology/main.htm (Accessed Dec. 9, 2005)

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana (Accessed Dec. 9, 2005)