Siam Villa Garden: Banana Tree

English Name: Banana Tree

Scientific Name: Musa

Family: Musaceae

Thai Name: กล้วย

Native in: Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Central America

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.

All widely cultivated bananas today descend from the two wild bananas Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. While the original wild bananas contained large seeds, diploid or polyploid cultivars (some being hybrids) with tiny seeds or triploid hybrids without seeds are preferred for human raw fruit consumption, as banana seeds are large and hard and spiky and liable to crack teeth. These are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months.

Medicinal Use

Bananas have been grown as crops for thousands of years. Parts of the banana are used for low levels of potassium in the blood (hypokalemia), constipation, and diarrhea. They are also used for diabetes, high cholesterol, and many other conditions. Banana contains chemicals and sugars. Some of these sugars act like fiber, which can help to regulate the gastrointestinal system. The chemicals might act like antioxidants and decrease swelling. Bananas also contain potassium and other vitamins and minerals.