BANANAS are the fruits of banana trees (Musa ssp.)
they Belong to the family of Musaceae that contains about 1000
species. Bananas are perennial " grasses " that can
be between 4 and 15 meters high, being the biggest species Muse
ingens that lives in the tropical forests of Papua island
in Oceania. In fact bananas could be considered to be "
the biggest grasses" because their trunks are not woody
as trees or bushes. What apparenly look like trunks are in fact
formed by a group of foliar sheaths, place one on the others
,constituting what would be a false trunk or " pseudostem
" that, in the case of the biggest species, can attain
3 metres wide. This stem finishes in a whorl of elliptic or
oblong leaves of very considerable size since they can be 3
meters long and half a meter wide. Each tree possesses an inflorescence
with reddish or violet brats made up of numerous little flowers
that are located at the end of a great peduncle that begins
in the rhizome and crosses through the middle of the stem. Male
flowers are located in the superior part of the inflorescence,
while the female ones are located below, Flowers , when maturing,
produce bananas. The group of all them form the famous clusters
that contain about 200 fruits. An entire cluster weighs between
30 and 50 kg. The false stem dries off when the fruits mature
and it is cut at soild level so it will be able to spring again
the following year starting from an underground rhizome. The
plant can be left in the same place or to be transplanted in
another place.
Banana trees come form the Southeast of Asia. Then, from
there, they extended towards the India, where of some news are
reported in VI century. Later, on they appeared in the whole
Equatorial Africa, in Guinea and in Canary Islands, where the
Portuguese navigators took them to. Later, they entered in America,
via Santo Domingo, and in the whole Central and equatorial America,
where today the main producers of the world can be found. They
export until 80% of the world production (Brazil, Ecuador, Costa
Rica, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua,
the first three of them being the main ones) Other producing
areas are found in Africa (Burundi and Cameroon), in Asia (India,
Indonesia, Philippines and China), in the Caribbean (Jamaica)
or in Europe (Spain, Portugal and Greece) . As a matter of fact,
any region of the world that possesses a warm and humid climate
is suitable to cultivate this plant. .
Banana
cultivation constitutes the second cultivation of the world
after orange. It is the fourth more important food to feed
people in developing countries after rice, wheat and corn. It
constitutes the main food of some families of the world with
so outstanding examples as in Uganda or Rwanda where the annual
consumption for person can reach about 250 kg.
The
best known bananas are the yellow ones that are sold in most
of the stores. They belong to the species Muse sapientum
a subspecies of the Musa paradisiaca. They are the most
preferred, besides being able to mature after being picked green,
, they are most flavorful, they can be cultivated all the year
round . Also because their price is very affordable.
Among the best known bananas we have the following types:
- Banana of Guinea: cultivated in Brazil and Kenya, it
has a small size since it doesn't measure more than 10 cm. It
tastes like apples.
- Red banana: Cultivated fundamentally in Thailand, it
is reddish or rosy.
- Dwarf banana or Dominican banana: It doesn't measure
more than 12 cm. it is cultivated in Colombia, Canary Islands,
Kenya or Thailand. It is the one of the most expensive bananas
because it is very sweet.
- Male banana or cooking banana. In the tropics of America
or Africa it is used like a vegetable rather than a fruit. It
has little flavor and a very hard consistency so that, instead
of being used to eat raw, it is prepared as potatoes are, fried
or boiled , for example.
Although
most the wild bananas are edible there are some that are used
for other purposes. The abaca (Musa textilis) produces
fibers for the elaboration of strings. It is also well-known
as hemp of Manila which is produced from the foliar stems of
this plant and constitutes the second vegetable fiber of of
the world obtained from the leaves of a plant after the sisal,
an agave variety that is cultivated in Mexico. Other species
are cultivated in gardening by the beauty of their leaves or
flowers. Among all these we could mention:
- Musa ornata for their flowers in erect spikes.
- Musa velutina is a dwarf species that doesn't attain
2 m , with dark red bananas and velvet bracts that give it the
scientific name..
- Musa coccinea of Indonesia with big leaves and some floral
spikes with enormous bracts of scarlet color.
