how do bananas come abt ???!

and something abt how bananas grow... haha, how we managed to talk abt growing bananas fr. Pandas, Koalas, and somebody's backyard with fruits... {incompatible interface, no pics at the moment}


Edible bananas originated in the Indo-Malaysian region. The banana plant is not a tree; it is in fact the world's largest perennial herb, which reaches a height of 25 feet (7 m) and develops massive leaves that may extend 9 feet (3 m) in the air. Linnaeus originally named it Musa paradisiaca, which means Muse of paradise, and is closely related to ginger and ornamental plants such as birds of paradise, amaranths and canna lilies.

Banana plants do not have woody stems; instead leafy stalks sprout from an fleshy underground stem called a rhizome, which contains many buds, similar to the eyes of a potato. After the stalk has matured, a large bud develops at the top, and a flower stem emerges. As the bud unfolds, tiny rows of flowers emerge. In time, each flower will become an individual banana called "finger." Each row has 12 to 20 fingers that make up a "hand," and each stem develops 7 to 14 hands of bananas.

The banana stem is ready to harvest when the plant is about 9 months old, and it can weigh 100 pounds (45 kilograms) or more. After harvesting, the plant is cut so a daughter plant that has sprouted from the same rhizome, and has already grown to about one-third the size of the mother plant, can take her place - and the whole process starts again. Edible bananas, which are technically "berries," do not produce seeds, so their rhizomes are hundreds of years old!