A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains", distinguishing them from dessert bananas. The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe. The fruits grow upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless (parthenocarp) bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution. The old scientific name for this hybrid, Musa sapientum, is no longer used.
Cucurbita pepo is a cultivated plant of the genus Cucurbita. It yields varieties of winter squash and pumpkin, but the most widespread varieties belong to the subspecies Cucurbita pepo subsp. pepo, called summer squash.
Dianthus barbatus, the sweet William, is a species of flowering plant in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to southern Europe and parts of Asia. It has become a popular ornamental garden plant. It is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant growing to 13–92 cm tall, with flowers in a dense cluster of up to 30 at the top of the stems. Each flower is 2–3 cm diameter with five petals displaying serrated edges. Wild plants produce red flowers with a white base, but colours in cultivars range from white, pink, red, and purple to variegated patterns. The exact origin of its English common name is unknown but first appears in 1596 in botanist John Gerard's garden catalogue. The flowers are edible and may have medicinal properties. Sweet William attracts bees, birds, and butterflies.
Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae. The genus includes 83 species of flowering plants producing edible bananas and plantains. Though they grow as high as trees, banana and plantain plants are not woody and their apparent "stem" is made up of the bases of the huge leaf stalks. Thus, they are technically gigantic herbaceous plants. Musa species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the giant leopard moth and other Hypercompe species, including H. albescens, H. eridanus, and H. icasia.
Chrysobalanus icaco, the cocoplum, paradise plum, abajeru or icaco, is a low shrub or bushy tree found near sea beaches and inland throughout tropical Africa, tropical Americas and the Caribbean, and in southern Florida and the Bahamas. An evergreen, it is also found as an exotic species on other tropical islands, where it has become a problematic invasive. Although taxonomists disagree on whether Chrysobalanus icaco has multiple subspecies or varieties, it is recognized as having two ecotypes, described as an inland, much less salt-tolerant, and more upright C. icaco var. pellocarpus and a coastal C. icaco var. icaco. Both the ripe fruit of C. icaco, and the seed inside the ridged shell it contains, are considered edible.
The Goldfinger banana (FHIA-01) is a banana cultivar developed in Honduras. The cultivar, developed at the Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research (FHIA) by a team of scientists led by Phillip Rowe and Franklin Rosales, has been bred to be pest-resistant and crop-yielding.
Red bananas are a group of varieties of banana with reddish-purple skin. Some are smaller and plumper than the common Cavendish banana, others much larger. When ripe, raw red bananas have a flesh that is cream to light pink in color. They are also softer and sweeter than the yellow Cavendish varieties, some with a slight raspberry flavor and others with an earthy one. Many red bananas are exported by producers in East Africa, Asia, South America and the United Arab Emirates. They are a favorite in Central America as a form of aphrodisiac juice, along with being a favourite in India in order to promote fertility but are sold throughout the world.
Musa balbisiana, also known simply as plantain, is a wild-type species of banana. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with Musa acuminata.
The Grand Nain banana is a banana cultivar of Musa acuminata. It is one of the most commonly cultivated bananas and a member of the commercial Cavendish banana cultivar group. It is also known as the Chiquita banana because it is the main product of Chiquita Brands International.
Rhino Horn bananas, also called Rhino Horn plantains or African Rhino Horn, are hybrid banana cultivars from Africa. It produces strongly curved and elongated edible bananas which can grow to a length of two feet, the longest fruits among banana cultivars.
Musa acuminata is a species of banana native to Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are from this species, although some are hybrids with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 10 kya, it is one of the early examples of domesticated plants.
Musa maclayi is a species of seeded banana native to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. It is placed in section Callimusa. It is regarded as one of the progenitors of the Fe'i banana cultivars.
The Blue Java is a hardy, cold-tolerant banana cultivar known for its sweet aromatic fruit, which is said to have an ice cream-like consistency and flavor reminiscent of vanilla. It is native to Southeast Asia and is a hybrid of two species of banana native to Southeast Asia — Musa balbisiana and Musa acuminata.
Saba banana, is a triploid hybrid (ABB) banana cultivar originating from the Philippines. It is primarily a cooking banana, though it can also be eaten raw. It is one of the most important banana varieties in Philippine cuisine. It is also sometimes known as the "cardaba banana", though the latter name is more correctly applied to the cardava, a very similar cultivar also classified within the saba subgroup.
The Latundan banana is a triploid hybrid banana cultivar of the AAB "Pome" group from the Philippines. It is one of the most common banana cultivars in Southeast Asia and the Philippines, along with Lacatan and Saba bananas. Its Malaysian name is pisang rastali.
Señorita bananas are diploid cultivars of the banana Musa acuminata originating in the Philippines. They are very small stout bananas which, like all bananas belonging to the AA cultivar group, are known for being extraordinarily sweet.
Matoke, locally also known as matooke, amatooke in Buganda, ekitookye in southwestern Uganda, ekitooke in western Uganda, kamatore in Lugisu, ebitooke in northwestern Tanzania, igitoki in Rwanda, Burundi and by the cultivar name East African Highland banana, is a starchy triploid banana cultivar originating from the African Great Lakes. The fruit is harvested green, carefully peeled, and then cooked and often mashed or pounded into a meal. In Uganda and Rwanda, the fruit is steam-cooked, and the mashed meal is considered a national dish in both countries.
Musa × paradisiaca is the accepted name for the hybrid between Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Most cultivated bananas and plantains are triploid cultivars either of this hybrid or of M. acuminata alone. Linnaeus originally used the name M. paradisiaca only for plantains or cooking bananas, but the modern usage includes hybrid cultivars used both for cooking and as dessert bananas. Linnaeus's name for dessert bananas, Musa sapientum, is thus a synonym of Musa × paradisiaca.
Musa beccarii is a species of wild banana, found in Malaysia, in Sabah. It is placed in section Callimusa.
