Musa acuminata

Family: Musaceae

Species: Musa acuminata Colla

Common name: Platano or Banano

Etymology

The origin of the name Musa is unclear, with two main theories:

1. It was named in honour of Antonio Musa, a physician to the emperor Augustus and a botanist.

2. It is adapted from the Arabic word for banana, mauz, as Linnaeus established the genus in 1750.

Description

The banana "tree"—considered by many to be a tree—is actually the largest herbaceous perennial capable of producing a flower. Its apparent stem, known as a pseudostem, is not an actual woody trunk but is formed by the overlapping leaf petioles that develop over time from an underground corm. At the beginning of its cycle, the plant produces 20–30 leaves, all emerging from the base of the underground trunk. When the leaves cease to grow, an elongating pseudostem emerges above ground, bearing a long petiole that carries the inflorescence upward. This false trunk can reach 6–8 metres in height and is stabilised solely by the fibrous mass of the leaves. At the top, a flower appears, which will eventually produce a bunch of fruits. Harvesting the bunch terminates the life of that plant, which is then cut at the base. However, production continues through regrowth from the same underground portion.

Musa acuminata's rhizome should be planted in well-draining soil and provided with ample light. The plant boasts very shiny, palmate, and large leaves, sometimes green with brown spots. In spring, it produces hanging bunches of yellowish-white flowers protected by thick and often brightly coloured bracts. These are followed by seedless fruits up to 20 centimetres long, with white pulp and a sweet flavour. It is sensitive to cold and should be maintained at a minimum temperature of 5 °C.

Habitat

Native to Asia and Australia, the wild form grows at altitudes of up to 1400 metres in humid evergreen forests. Its cultivation began in south-eastern Asia; archaeological evidence suggests that it dates back to at least 5000 BC and perhaps even 8000 BC. In 650 AD, Islamic conquerors introduced the banana to Palestine, and thereafter, Arab merchants spread it across much of Africa. Around 1516, the Portuguese brought the banana to America.

Properties and Uses

Most commonly, we consume the dessert banana—a raw and ripe fruit. Dessert bananas are harvested immature when their sugars are primarily in the form of starch. As the fruit ripens, the starch converts into sugars. The fruit also provides proteins, mineral salts (particularly potassium), and vitamins (A, B, and C). Ripening takes about eleven days.

In regions where bananas traditionally grow, the fruit is utilised differently. In these areas, bananas are an essential source of starch, analogous to the role of wheat in our diets. Such bananas are consumed both cooked (when immature) and raw (when ripe). The immature banana is first blanched and peeled, then cooked and added to meat or fish sauces or eaten fried. The ripe banana may be partially cooked as a side dish for pork or chicken, used fresh as a garnish, dried in the sun to produce flour for baked goods, or cooked into bread. Banana scraps and the bananas themselves are also used as feed for farm animals.

Banana fibre, known as Manila fibre or Manila hemp (often also called abaca), is a long, biodegradable fibre obtained by longitudinally sectioning the pseudostem. It can be woven with cotton to produce fabrics that dry much faster. This fabric has a very high absorption capacity, making it useful for filtration.

Notes and Curiosities

Many cultivars of Musa acuminata are developed from specific crosses to increase and facilitate fruiting. One notable feature of banana plants is the rapid turnover of leaves during their growth phase: they produce a new leaf approximately each week. This constant renewal means that if a leaf breaks or frays, it is quickly replaced. The fact that the leaves fray so easily is an adaptive strategy—it reduces resistance to the wind while still allowing photosynthesis to continue.

The floral scape of the banana is unique and intriguing. It comprises a central axis (rachis) on which flowers develop sequentially from the base upward. The flowers are hermaphroditic and arranged along a thick, showy bract. The first flowers at the base of the rachis develop only female organs (pistils and ovaries), while the male parts are aborted. In the middle, the flowers are completely sterile; the terminal flowers, however, have an aborted gynoecium and functional male parts (stamens and anthers), thus preventing self-fertilisation and promoting genetic diversity. Pollination is primarily carried out by bats and birds, though in some cases by insects.

In Italy, most banana trees grown outdoors cannot flower or bear fruit. On Lake Garda, however, where the climate is mild, they can flower but often do not complete fruiting. Together with Ensete ventricosum (Red Banana), their leaves form suggestive groupings that enhance the garden’s visual appeal on multiple levels.

The commercial bananas we eat are seedless, developing without pollination. In nature, however, the seeds are large and abundant, reducing the edible pulp in the fruit.

Banana trees can also be propagated vegetatively through the division of suckers. This multiplication process can occur at any time of the year by carefully removing the suckers that grow at the base of the plant and planting each in a small pot filled with fertile soil. The pot should then be kept in a warm, humid environment (around 24 °C) until the plant begins to grow, after which standard care for larger plants applies.

This species is vulnerable to Panama disease due to the often monoovarietal nature of its crops, which exhibit minimal genetic diversity. The pathogen—a fungus known as Fusarium odoratissimum—attacks bananas and can cause extensive damage.