In what countries, where and how does a banana grow? What does a banana tree look like? Is a banana a fruit or a berry, an herb or a tree? What part of the plant is the banana

Banana is a plant, on which the fruits of the same name grow, the most popular of the cultivated fruits. People began to cultivate bananas many millennia ago: some researchers give a date of eight thousand years, others say more than nine.
Banana is the fourth largest cultivated crop in the world, behind only three cereals (rice, corn and wheat). Banana grass: flower and ovary >

Systematics and names

The genus Banana (Latin name Musa) belongs to the class Monocotyledons, the department of Angiosperms. More than sixty species of wild bananas belong to this genus. No more than ten species are used in culture, the main ones being Musa acuminata (pointy banana) and Musa X paradisiaca (paradisiac banana).
Banana paradise is not a natural species, but a man-made hybrid based on several wild species. Since this process took place several thousand years ago, scientists cannot reliably say which wild species served as the basis for this hybrid.
On the basis of Musa acuminata and Musa X paradisiaca, hundreds of different varieties have been selected by selection, which differ in size, taste, color and even the content of organic components.
The number of wild species is difficult to determine: many species are considered subspecies, hybrids or variations. Some scientists believe that the genus Banana includes 40-45 species, while others call a figure above 70. Banana Plantation >

Natural range and modern distribution

All wild banana species originated from two centers of origin cultivated plants: Tropical and East Asian. This is the territory of Korea, Japan, South China, the islands of Southeast Asia (Malay Archipelago), India, Indochina.
Currently, bananas are common in the tropical, subtropical and equatorial regions of the Old and New Worlds.
Bananas can grow almost anywhere, as long as there is warmth, nutrient substrates and moisture (large leaves contribute to strong evaporation of water).
Some types of bananas have sufficient cold resistance, and can withstand temperatures down to 0 degrees. They were introduced in the Caucasus and the South Coast, but they are used only for decorative purposes: the fruits of these bananas do not have time to ripen during the warm period. The fruits of the banana plant are called bananas.
Note: There is only one unusual type of banana that comes from Abyssinia (West Africa).

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Banana morphology

life form banana - perennial herbaceous plant, the stem of which is located underground. The vertical "trunk" is formed by spirally arranged leaves that fit one into the other. The height of a banana depends on the variety or variety, it can reach 8-10 m, but there are also decorative dwarf forms that are grown in pots. Their height is 50-70 cm.
root system banana is fibrous, well developed in width (up to 5 m), but it penetrates only 1-1.5 m deep. Because of such a root system, the plant often suffers from strong winds that pull it out of the ground. Therefore, on banana plantations, in anticipation of strong hurricanes, plants are cut almost to the root. Bananas grow back quickly suitable conditions one leaf per week, and the owners do not have to plant a new plantation.
Leaves bananas are simple, whole, without stipules, with parallel venation, 2-5 m long, up to 70 cm wide. In strong winds, they are torn, which gives the impression that the leaves are dissected. Torn leaves reduce windage, which saves the plant from strong winds and heavy rains.
Flowers the banana has three types: small male, bisexual sterile medium-sized and large female. All three types of flowers are collected in one large racemose inflorescence, the size of which can exceed a couple of meters.
Flowers are arranged in tiers, each of which is collected in a bunch, consisting of 10-20 flowers.
Female flowers are bright, pink, lilac or reddish, very showy, located at the top of the inflorescence. All flowers are irregular, three-membered, tubular. The gynoecium is also three-membered, forming a three-chambered ovary.
The flowers are rich in nectar and are pollinated by birds (ornithophilia) or animals (zoophilia).
Bananas, which are pollinated by bats, bloom in the evening. Bananas that are pollinated by other mammals or birds bloom in the morning. banana blossom >
Fruit banana - multi-seeded berries, they develop only from female flowers. The shape of the fruit is usually trihedral - according to the number of carpels. Most banana hearths are elongated (slightly or strongly), bent, from 4 to 40 cm long. One fruiting inflorescence can produce up to 300 bananas.
seeds bananas are monocotyledonous, hard, rounded, up to 15 mm long, Brown color. In nature, their distribution is facilitated by animals - zoochory.
Wild bananas have so many seeds in their fruits that their mass can exceed the weight of the pulp.
Fruiting and reproduction. Banana is a monocarpic plant, that is, it bears fruit only once in a lifetime. After flowering and fruiting, the ground part of the banana dies off. But in the process of growing the main plant, under the ground, the banana forms many dormant buds. Some of them germinate, forming new individuals. Such vegetative reproduction very effective because it takes less time than seed propagation. In addition, most cultivated bananas have no seeds and the plants reproduce exclusively vegetatively.
Geotropism. Bananas have a rare biological phenomenon - negative geotropism. The axis on which fruits are formed, growing downwards, under the influence of phytohormones, begins to grow upwards.

Banana - grass or palm?

All representatives of the class Monocotyledonous plants do not have a cambium, so thickening occurs due to the secondary meristem. The banana does not have a woody thickening, and the pseudo-stem is only part of the leaf cuttings. Banana grass is one of the tallest in the world >
One more distinguishing feature banana from any kind of palm tree - simple leaves.
A banana is mistaken for a palm tree due to the fact that it has a smooth "trunk" and the top ends with a bunch of leaves, such as an adult coconut or date palm.
The height of bananas also contributed to the confusion of people: Musa itinerans (giant banana) can have a "stem" with a diameter of up to 2 meters, reaching a height of 12 meters - it is difficult to imagine a grass of this size.
Banana is one of the largest herbaceous plants in the world.

Banana is a plant belonging to the banana family. His native to Southeast Asia. What family does the banana belong to? Many are interested in this question and you are a surprise, but there is a separate banana family, which is divided into 4 main types:

Decorative plants. Representatives of this type rarely bloom, and their fruits are considered inedible.
Technical. They are a source of valuable fiber.
Feed. They are floury bananas, which contain a lot of starch. Flour is made from these plants.
Fruit. These bananas can be consumed both raw and cooked.

The trunk of a banana plant is formed from large stems of leaves, which die off when they reach a certain size. When about 43-45 leaves are formed, the banana begins to bloom. This period is marked by beautiful longline flowering. At the bottom of the plant, there are several female-type flowers next to each other, then bisexual ones are formed, and at the very top - small flowers of the male type. When pollination stops, the topmost elements fall off and fruits begin to form.

Banana fruits are formed only from the female flowers of the plant. They are also formed in tiers.

Originally a fruit (although technically he is a berry) is green. As it matures, it becomes yellow, sometimes it can turn into, we’ll warn you right away, this does not mean that it is unsuitable for consumption, it’s just a different plant variety.

At the end of the fruiting period, the visible part of the plant dies off. And the next year, the whole cycle of growth is repeated anew. Many types of banana can be successfully grown at home.

There are special, specially bred varieties that are less demanding to care for and much more resistant to diseases. These include the Kyiv dwarf or other dwarf species. Such bananas reach no more than 1.5 m in height, which is very convenient when grown indoors.

types of banana tree

Modern agriculture (mainly in the tropical zone) actively cultivates the species Musa paradisiaca (paradisiac banana). In more northern latitudes, the Japanese banana, or Musa basjoo, grows.

At home, as a rule, the following varieties are grown: Musa velutina, Musa violacea, Musa ornata, Musa Cavendish Dwarf, etc. These species are characterized by small growth and undemanding care.

motherland

So where do bananas grow in Africa? It is believed that this plant first appeared in Southeast Asia. And from there it spread throughout the tropical part of the planet. In the territory of America, according to scientists, the banana got even before Columbus appeared on this earth. Although how the plant ended up in this area is still unknown.

About a thousand years ago, this culture already grew in Malaysia, India, Brazil and Indonesia. Banana is considered one of the first plants that began to be cultivated in culture. And what about Africa? Do bananas grow on this continent? This plant is found mainly in the humid tropical part of West Africa.

It is worth remembering that bananas do not grow in an area located above a thousand meters above sea level. Therefore, they can only be found in a certain part of Africa.

A photo

In this section, you can visually get acquainted with a banana, a photo of its fruit and flower, and what a seedling looks like at home.

Home Care

Bananas are necessarily cultivated in bright, spacious rooms, the windows of which face either the south, or the southeast or southwest. The pot with the plant should be placed close enough to the window, but in a place where there are no drafts. In summer, the banana must be protected from too bright sun, and in winter time provide him with additional lighting.

Water the plant abundantly, but rarely enough. It is important that the top of the soil has time to dry a couple of centimeters deep. Bananas also have a positive attitude towards spraying.

This procedure is carried out every day in the summer, and once a week in the winter. It is worth remembering that in no case should the soil be allowed to rot. It is important to ensure that water can freely exit through the holes in the drain.

Also for better growth banana should be fed. In summer they are held weekly, in winter - once a month.

Banana flowering occurs after 15-17 large full-fledged leaves are formed. If the care of the plant is good, then flowering occurs all year round, and fruits are also formed.

Banana is propagated either by root offspring or seeds. The offspring must be planted a little deeper than they were originally. As a result, additional roots are formed.

It is equally important that the pot is suitable for the size of the seedling, since the earth can turn sour in excessively large containers. Before planting seeds, they must be soaked for a day in warm water so that the shell softens. Shoots usually appear 1-3 months after planting.

Diseases and pests

educational video

A short video will allow you to learn even more interesting facts about bananas.

Benefit and harm

Bananas contain a huge amount of useful vitamins and minerals. They are rich in potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus and calcium. They contain the following vitamins: A, C, E, PP, vitamins of group B, etc. Regular helps to normalize blood pressure, improve the functioning of the digestive system, reduce stress, improve memory and attention.

However, this the fetus can also be harmful. It should not be used by those people who have the following diseases: coronary heart disease, diabetes, thrombophlebitis, increased blood clotting, etc.

Since the calorie content of this product is quite high, its use should be limited to people who are overweight.

Banana is an amazing plant that brings tasty and healthy fruits. When breeding at home, it should be remembered that the banana is picky about light, humidity and heat. It is necessary to create the most comfortable conditions for the plant, and then it will delight with flowers and fruits all year round.

How Bananas Grow December 23rd, 2012

Grass, that is! A resident of central Russia, who is accustomed to looking for strawberries and lingonberries in a forest ant, is hard to imagine banana grass three to four meters high, on the stalk of which hang three hundred "berries" weighing half a centner. In addition, the diameter of the "grass" in a good dozen centimeters. From above, it ends with a spreading panicle of oblong leaves (which is why the reaction of a European is unambiguous: a palm tree). From the rosette of leaves hangs from top to bottom something like a one and a half meter long trunk.

Bananas do not have a trunk (like trees) - they don’t even have a normal stem. Its stem is more like a tuber and is almost invisible above the ground. But there are huge leaves - fans, up to 6 m long and up to a meter wide.

250-300 small bananas are tied on the inflorescence. The proboscis is properly called a "bunch", and what we buy and call clusters are actually brushes of four to seven fused fruits. A real banana bunch is a lot of brushes, closely adjacent to each other. Bananas have been known to mankind since ancient times.

Their homeland is called the tropical and subtropical regions of Asia, mainly India and China. At least in these countries, bananas have long been considered sacred fruits that restore strength and nourish the mind. Some of the Indian pagodas that have survived from that time have roofs that exactly repeat the shape of a banana: it was so respected. Banana culture spread from India and China to Asia Minor.

Later, they began to be grown on the east and west coasts of Africa. In the 16th century, they were brought to the Canary Islands, to Central and South America. The countries there have received, it turns out, banana plantations are the last in the world, and they are the best in growing and selling them: Ecuador, Colombia, Panama supply all of Europe with bananas. If earlier we ate - it is clear why - exclusively Cuban varieties, now we are also full-fledged Europeans: most of all in our market are Ecuadorian fruits.

A few words about how bananas are harvested. As soon as the ovaries on the bunches begin to form, a polyethylene cover is urgently pulled over it so that, God forbid, nothing sits on the ripening fruits. So they grow under caps, protected from tropical insects, for eleven weeks. They do not reach full ripeness, but they should be taken to another continent!

At this stage, the harvest time comes. Nothing has changed over the centuries: as great-grandfathers and grandfathers harvested, they do it now. The worker, holding a long pole with a powerful cleaver screwed to the end, approaches the trunk and, deftly poking at the height, cuts off a huge bunch. And how it rustles down ... (I see that our people, who give the weekend to six hundred square meters, have already shuddered: an apple or a pear will fall - it’s a pity that it will remain! And then fifty kilograms of banana tenderness crash to the ground ?!)

So they were scared in vain - centuries-old experience teaches: there is no better landing place for a bunch than the shoulders and back of a second worker, specially standing nearby. Having cheerfully depreciated, he drags the crop to the warehouse on himself. There, the bunches will be disassembled into small pieces, thrown into tanks with a special liquid for greater disinfection and long-term preservation, and then they will be caught, dried, wrapped in polyethylene, packed in branded boxes, and they will go by sea, rarely by plane, to other countries. And the "trunk" from which the bunch was cut is no longer a tenant. Dries up.

Grass is grass. But new “blades of grass” are already climbing into the light of God from the rhizome from the earth. True, they grow to maturity for a whole year. And they will also bring only one bunch each, but the renewal process on the plantations is continuous. How continuous the harvest is in a warm climate: some bunches are cut, others ripen, others are tied ... In a word, long live the eternal tropical summer! And let the bananas on our table not disappear!

At night, banana flowers are visited by bats, and during the day numerous insects, nectary birds and squirrel-like animals - tupai, which are distant relatives of monkeys, visit. Bananas generously treat all visitors with nectar. After pollination, the covering leaves fall off, and fruits begin to set in place of the flowers. There are so many lateral inflorescences on one peduncle that when the last covering leaves begin to open at its end, the fruits at the base are already ripening.

The yellow, crescent-shaped fruit of a banana bears little resemblance to a berry*, but from a botanist's point of view, a banana is a berry with a leathery shell and sweet pulp, in which numerous seeds are immersed (if you cut a banana, you can see small black dots inside).

I must say that not all types of bananas have the same fruits that we can buy in our markets and stores. Some fruits are shorter, some are oval or almost round, some are longer and thinner. When ripe, the peel sometimes does not turn yellow, but turns red. But such bananas are not delivered to us - they do not tolerate transportation well.

After fruiting, the entire huge aerial part of the plant dies off, but underground shoots have already started growing from the base of the false stem, which will give rise to new false stems. So, in a vegetative way, a banana multiplies.

A green banana has the consistency of a potato and yet tastes highly astringent and resinous - completely inedible. Bananas are harvested by completely cutting down a thick grassy trunk, with one blow of a sickle - the second time the same shoot (what is incorrectly called a palm tree in Russia) does not bear fruit. Then a bunch is cut off from the trunk and put to ripen. A few days after the harvest, green bananas ripen and become familiar to us yellow. The sale of green bananas is widespread.

Banana came to us from Malaysia, where it has been grown for 10 thousand years. Wild bananas, which can still be found in Southeast Asia, contain large, hard seeds and very little pulp. They are pollinated by bats.

The bananas in your supermarket are a cultivar chosen by growers for their fleshy flesh and lack of seeds. Cultivation gave the plant a sweet, tasty, but sterile: such a banana is not able to reproduce without human help.

Most banana plants haven't had "sex" for 10,000 years. Almost every one of the bananas that we eat with such pleasure is propagated by hand: from the shoot of an already existing plant, whose genetic fund has not been updated for 100 centuries. As a result, the banana is extremely susceptible to various kinds of diseases. Many of its species have already fallen victim to fungal infections such as "black sigatoka" and "Panama disease", which are very resistant to fungicides. And if a genetically modified variety is not developed soon, we can forget about bananas forever.

The problem, by the way, is very serious. Bananas are the world's most profitable export crop. The industry is worth $12 billion a year and supports 400 million people, many of whom live below the poverty line.

Most bananas come from hot countries, however, paradoxically, Iceland is the largest European banana producer. Bananas are grown in spacious greenhouses heated by geothermal waters, just two degrees south of the Arctic Circle.

"Fyffe" s, a multinational importing company that annually buys the entire banana crop in Belize, is Irish.

With the same mass, dried bananas contain 5 times more calories than fresh bananas.

India produces more bananas than any other country in the world.

Sprinter Linford Christie, an Olympic gold medalist, includes fried plantin in his diet before competition or training.

In East Africa, bananas are fermented to make beer.

Banana fruits are consumed raw, fried, boiled. Soups, pastries, desserts, main dishes are prepared from bananas. But special varieties of bananas are fried and boiled. Those bananas that we eat are bred by crossing different types of bananas.

Bananas are not only eaten. From banana peel make black dye; leaves are used for baking, instead of foil and baking paper; light buildings and rafts are made from stems; leaves are used to make packages.

Banana is widely used in medicine. Fruits help in the fight against high blood pressure, anemia, heartburn, depression. In the treatment of stomach ulcers, dysentery, bronchitis, diabetes, banana flowers are used. They are brewed and drunk like tea. Burns are well healed by young banana leaves, like our plantain.

This small paleotropical family consists of 2 genera and approximately 50 species.

The banana genus (Musa, Fig. 219; Table 46, 1, 2) unites over 40 species distributed in tropical South Asia, on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea, in Northeast Australia and on the Pacific Islands. Farthest to the west, the Maclay banana (M. maclayi, Fig. 219, 7) is distributed, growing in New Guinea, Tahiti, New Caledonia and Fiji, from where it is apparently brought to the Hawaiian Islands. The southern limit of the banana lies in Queensland at 16°S. sh. The center of concentration of the largest number of banana species and the origin of its cultural forms is located in India, on the Indochina Peninsula, where about 20 banana species grow, and on the islands of the Malay Archipelago, which are somewhat inferior in number to its species. Some types of banana go beyond the tropics to warm subtropical regions. In India, Assam, and southwestern China, bananas are found up to 27°N. sh. The Japanese banana (M. basjoo, pl. 46, 3) reaches the same latitude in the Ryukyu Islands.

The genus Enseta (Enseta) consists of 7 species growing in tropical Africa and Asia. From Cameroon to Ethiopia and south to the Transvaal, swollen enset, or “Abyssinian banana” (E. ventricosum, Fig. 219, 8 - 10), is common. In Madagascar, only 1 species is found - Enset Perrier (E. perrieri). In Asia, the range of the Enset extends from Northeast India, Burma, and Thailand to Southern China, the Philippines, New Guinea, and Java. Here the most common species is the enseta sizaya (E. glaucum).

Banana - giant perennial herbs with powerful underground rhizomes and short tuberous stems that almost do not protrude above the ground and bear spirally arranged huge leaves with unusually long sheaths. The sheaths enclose each other and form a dense multi-layered tube of a false stem. False stems often reach a height of 5 - 6 m. Plants of swollen ensets rise to 13 m, and a huge banana (M. ingens), growing in New Guinea, is up to 15 m high and has leaves 5 - 6 m long, 0 wide, 6 - 1 m. Along with such giants, there is a rough-fruited banana (Musa lasiocarpa), growing in the mountains of Yunnan province in China, which is a plant no higher than 60 cm with leaves up to 30 cm long.

As with Strelitzia and other representatives of the ginger order, banana leaves develop inside the sheath of the previous leaf, are tubularly folded and therefore asymmetrical. A banana has a right, outer ladle of a leaf, constrained by a tube of a false stem, always narrower than the inner, left one. With an increase in the number of leaves, the diameter of the cavity of the false stem decreases and the asymmetry of the developing leaves increases. From the powerful main vein of the leaf, lateral veins depart almost at right angles at regular intervals, along which the leaf is easily torn from wind and rain. Like Ravenal, bananas in nature almost always have torn leaves.

Banana leaves are often covered with a wax coating. The stomata are surrounded by several secondary cells that differ little from the rest of the epidermal cells. Vessels of the conducting system have transverse walls with simple perforation or end with an oblique wall with ladder perforation. Rows of cells with thickened walls and silica inclusions are located along the conducting bundles. Silica and calcium oxalate crystals are also very often found in ordinary parenchymal thin-walled cells of vegetative organs. The cell juice flowing out when the false stem is cut, oxidizing in air, becomes brownish-orange, and in some species, for example, the Maclay banana, it is permanently colored pinkish or purple due to the anthocyanin content.

Bananas grow amazingly fast. Huge, 7 - 8 meter false stems grow in just 8 - 10 months, and at this age the plants usually enter the reproductive phase. Leaves stop growing. The growing point, enclosed in a tube of leaf sheaths, develops a flower-bearing stem, which grows rapidly inside the false stem, and after a few weeks a large apical inflorescence appears at the top between the leaves. After flowering and fruiting, the entire aerial part dies off. At the base of the false stem, bananas form lateral underground shoots. They grow horizontally for some time, then turn to the surface of the soil and give rise to new false stems with leaves. Enset species are monocarpic plants. They usually die off without producing offspring. Only isolated cases of the formation of vegetative offspring in old, dying tuberous stems of enseta are known.

The inflorescence of banana bears large dense covering leaves on a powerful axis, which, unlike strelitzia, are not arranged in two rows, but in a spiral, counterclockwise. In the axils of the covering leaves, the lateral branches of the inflorescence have such a shortened and accreted axis that they look like just transverse protrusions of the main axis, bearing two rows of flowers. The development of flowers occurs naturally, starting from the right, alternately in the inner and outer row. Obviously, like strelitzia, this is also a curl, but it has undergone a strong metamorphosis. Some species develop only one row of flowers. The young banana inflorescence looks like a huge bud, where the covering leaves are close together, tiled, like in the species of Enset or in the textile banana (M. textilis, pl. 46, 4). In cultivated bananas, they completely envelop the kidney. These leaves may be green, but are more often pink or bright red, purple, or purple tint. They open, they alternately, exposing flowers, the number of which in two-row partial inflorescences can reach 40. In sunny hot weather, 2-3 lateral inflorescences can open, in rainy weather they open sluggishly, one at a time, at large intervals. In bananas, the covering leaves fall off on the second day, and in enseta, they remain in the seed. The axis of the inflorescence is constantly growing, its internodes are stretched, and at the end there is always a bud, the size of which decreases as it blooms.

Banana flowers are zygomorphic, usually unisexual. In the first, lower partial inflorescences, female flowers develop, producing fruits; in subsequent ones, sometimes bisexual, but not fruit-setting; then, to the very top, male flowers are formed, which, after flowering, fall off. Perianth segments in bananas are petaloid, whitish or yellow, five of them grow together, dressing the flower from the outside (Fig. 219, 4, 5). One segment of the inner circle remains free, facing the axis of the inflorescence. Banana flowers usually have 5 stamens, the sixth (at the base of the free petal) is turned into a staminode. All 6 stamens are developed in the flowers of Enseta swollen. Stamens have 2 linear anthers, cracking longitudinally. Pollen grains are large, heavy, with a non-aperture shell. Gynoecium syncarpous, of three carpels; ovary lower, 3-locular, with numerous anatropic ovules located in two rows in the central corner of the nest. The style bears a 3- or 6-lobed capitate stigma. In the upper part of the ovary, septal nectar glands are immersed in the tissues, opening at the base of the style. They are especially strongly developed in male flowers, where nectar secretion is the only function of the reduced ovary. In cultivated bananas, one female flower gives 0.10 - 0.27 g of nectar per day, and male - 0.42 - 0.59 g.

Bananas with dangling buds bloom in the evening, and enseta at midnight. The flowers emit a specific smell that attracts bats. Van der Pale (1936) observed bats from the subfamily of long-tongued (Macroglossinae) on bananas. Detailed observations of banana pollination were made in Java and Sumatra by the Indonesian botanist Nazar Hyp (1976). At night, bananas are visited by bats. Their stomachs are full of nectar, their heads are covered with pollen, and traces of their claws remain on the inflorescences. In the morning the flowers are visited by birds and numerous insects. Bananas with upright inflorescences bloom in the morning and are pollinated mainly by bright nectary birds (Nectarinia calcostetha) and small mammals - tupai. Tupai, like squirrels, live on trees and feed mainly on fruits, often feast on nectar and can serve as pollen carriers. Interestingly, bananas with upright inflorescences that bloom during the day have flowers that are odorless and produce more liquid nectar. H. Hyp also observed butterflies, bees, wasps, and ants among banana pollinators.

Many banana species, such as the velvety banana (M. velutina) and the blood-red banana (M. sanguinea) from Assam, have the ability to set fruits and seeds when self-pollinated. This property is inherent mainly in species living on the border of the range, and helps them survive in extreme conditions. In most cases, in the absence of natural pollinators, bananas do not bear fruit or sometimes form seedless parthenocarpic fruits.

If flowering bananas are actively visited by animals, then after the fruits ripen, they are literally attacked by bats, numerous birds, monkeys and tupai. In the forests of Java, it is difficult to find ripe fruits undamaged by animals.

The banana fruit is a berry with a leathery shell and juicy pulp, in which numerous seeds are immersed. In enseta, the fruits are rather dry, but not drop-down. Only the ripe fruits of the schizocarp banana (M. schizocarpa), which grows on the northeast coast of New Guinea, crack. This property, rare for bananas, is reflected in its specific epithet, which literally means “with cracking fruit”. Sometimes, however, the fruits of the velvety banana also open.

Banana fruits - elongated, cylindrical, somewhat faceted and sickle-shaped - are familiar to everyone. In addition to this characteristic shape, some species have short oval, almost round or, conversely, thin, long, horn-shaped fruits. When ripe, the fruits turn yellow or red. Banana seedlings can be very large. So, for example, the Madagascar Enseta Perrier produces seedlings weighing 25 - 30 kg, containing up to 200 fruits, and the seedling of banana cultivars can consist of 300 fruits with a total weight of 50 - 60 kg.

Banana fruits contain 50 - 100, and sometimes even up to 200 seeds. Seeds are flattened, rounded or irregular in shape, with a hard dark brown or black shell. Unlike strelitzia, bananas do not have aryllus. In the early stages of development, the seed stalks have filaments that can be considered such a formation, but later they degenerate. The presence of juicy fragrant fruits provides zoochore (with the participation of animals) seed dispersal. The banana has a seed with a diameter of 3-11 mm, the seeds of the enset are larger, up to 17 mm in diameter. The embryo of a banana is straight, while that of an enseta is a curved T-shaped. Nutrients are stored in the powdery perisperm, the endosperm is poorly developed. Seeds can remain viable for a long time in soil covered with plant litter, and germinate when the area is lightened after clearing or windblow. Germination is underground, the main root dies off very early, giving way to numerous adventitious roots. The first leaf of the seedling is vaginal, does not have a developed plate.

Banana - inhabitants of sunny, open glades, forest edges, river banks. They form thickets in secondary formations, in clearings, abandoned plantations, along roadsides. In the depths of shady forests, they cease to bear fruit and gradually die. The exception is the huge banana (M. ingens), which grows in dense notophagus forests in the mountains of New Guinea. Its seedlings develop well in dense undergrowth. Sometimes the reason for the death of bananas is not the onset of forest vegetation, but competition with cereals, which they cannot withstand. In communities with cereals, the Banana Balbisa (M. balbisana) and Enset Omble (E. homblei), found in light forests and savannahs, get along better than others. The supply of water and nutrients in the tuberous stem helps Enseta species survive the dry period, plants lose their leaves and sometimes survive fires, keeping the growing point hidden in the sheath of the false stem. Quite drought-resistant and banana species common in the monsoon climate of Southeast Asia. Most bananas are inhabitants of a humid tropical climate and are confined to low altitudes. At the same time, there are mountain species that do not tolerate a constantly humid and hot climate. Banana Maclay, seedless at low altitudes, forms seeds in the mountains, at an altitude of 900 - 1100 m above. sea level. A huge banana, rising in the mountains of New Guinea up to 2100 m, dies from fungal diseases in plantings near the sea.

Banana is the most important crop of tropical agriculture. In many developing countries, banana exports form the backbone of the economy. World fruit production is about 24 million tons and is mainly concentrated in Latin America. Almost a quarter of the harvest comes from India, Malaysia, Indonesia. More than a million tons of bananas are grown in African countries. The creation of hardy varieties made it possible to advance the culture of bananas to 30 ° N. sh. and 31°S sh. to warm subtropical regions, to Lebanon, Spain, Florida. Bananas were brought to the Canary Islands by Portuguese sailors as early as 1482. It is not surprising that the banana genus became known to botanists from the cultural specimen described by Charles. Linnaeus in 1753 in the first edition of his famous work "Species Plantarum" and called by him the banana of paradise (Musa paradisiaca). In the second; edition of his work (1763) Linnaeus added. banana of the brahmins, or banana of the sages (M. sapientum), which also belonged to cultivars. Under both names long time cultivars of various origins have appeared in the scientific literature. According to modern concepts, most cultivars are the result of a long-term selection of mutational forms of pointed banana (M. acuminata, Fig. 219, 1 - 6) and its crossing with Balbis banana (M. balbisiana).

Pointed banana - a widely varying species, within which there are 5 subspecies that easily interbreed. The species is distributed in South India, the Indochina Peninsula, the Malay Peninsula, the islands of the Malay Archipelago, New Guinea and Northeast Australia. The Balbisa banana also grows in the same geographical area, which moves a little further north in India to Assam and into southern China, but does not grow in Australia. This species does not have such wide variability. In tropical Asia, natural interspecific hybrids of these species are known. Both of them have a haploid set of 11 chromosomes. The cultivars are mostly triploids and therefore incapable of sexual reproduction. Breeders have adopted the conventional designation of the set of chromosomes of the pointed banana with the Latin letter A, and the Balbis banana with the Latin letter B. Diploid varieties of non-hybrid origin, created by selecting the forms of the pointed banana, are designated by the code AA. These low-yielding, disease-resistant varieties have a limited distribution. They were pushed aside by triploid varieties with the AAA genotype. These varieties include the well-known tall variety "Gros Michel" ("Cros Michel"). One of its seedlings can contain 250 fruits, each of which weighs up to 200 g. Another triploid mutation of the pointed banana is the popular dwarf variety "Dwarf Cavendish" ("Dwarf Gavendish"). It was cultivated in Southern China and was therefore known as "Chinese banana" (M. chinensis) or "dwarf banana" (M. nana), or finally as "Kaveidish banana" (M. cavendishii). The height of plants of this variety is about 1 m. It grows quickly and bears fruit when grown in the greenhouses of botanical gardens. The paradise banana described by Linnaeus is a triploid hybrid variety. Among such triploid hybrids with the AAB genotype, a large group of varieties, the so-called plantins, are known, grown mainly in Central Africa. Plantin - vegetable varieties, the fruits of which are not used raw. They are baked in banana leaves, boiled, processed into flour.

In India and the countries of Southeast Asia, varieties with the ABB genome are common. Modern breeding is aimed at creating resistant to fungal diseases. productive varieties, tetraploid hybrids were obtained.

Fruits of table varieties contain about 75% water, 22% sugars, 1.3% proteins and about 10 mg of vitamins. They are a valuable dietary fruit. A special group of floury varieties comes from the Maclay banana, or oceanic (M. maclayi, or M. fehi, Fig. 219, 7), common on the islands of Oceania and in Australia. These are vegetable varieties with orange fruits, the pulp of which yellow color, their seeds are also used for food.

Banana (lat. Musa) is a perennial herbaceous plant that belongs to the flowering department, the monocotyledonous class, the ginger-colored order, the banana family, the banana genus.

Origin of the word "banana"

There is no exact information about the origin of the Latin definition of Musa. Some researchers believe that the banana was named in memory of the court physician Antonio Musa, who was in the service of Octavian Augustus, the Roman emperor who ruled in the last decades BC. e and the first years of our era. According to another theory, it comes from the Arabic word "موز‎", which sounds like "muses" - the name of the edible fruit produced by this plant. The concept of "banana" passed into the Russian language as a free transliteration of the word "banana" from the dictionaries of almost all European languages. Apparently, this definition was borrowed by Spanish or Portuguese sailors at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries from the vocabulary of the tribes living in West Africa.

Banana - description, structure, characteristics and photographs.

Despite the fact that in appearance a banana resembles a tree, in fact a banana is a grass, namely a herbaceous plant with powerful roots, a short stem that does not come to the surface, and 6-20 large leaves. After bamboo, banana is the tallest grass in the world. The banana fruit is a berry.

Trunk and roots.

Numerous fibrous roots that form the root system can spread to the sides up to 5 meters and deepen in search of moisture up to 1.5 meters. The false trunk of a banana, reaching a height of 2 to 12 meters and having a diameter of up to 40 cm, has dense and long leaves that overlap each other.

Banana leaves.

Banana leaves are oblong or oval in shape, their length can exceed 3 meters, and their width can reach 1 meter. One large longitudinal vein clearly appears on their surface, from which many small perpendicular veins extend. The color of banana leaves is varied. Depending on the species or variety, it can be completely green, with maroon spots of various shapes, or two-tone - painted in crimson hues below and juicy green tones above. As the banana matures, the old leaves die off and fall to the ground, while the young ones develop inside the false trunk. The renewal rate of one banana leaf under favorable conditions occurs in 7 days.

How does a banana bloom?

Active growth of bananas lasts from 8 to 10 months, after which the flowering phase begins. At this time, a long peduncle sprouts up from the underground tuberous stem up through the entire trunk. Having made its way out, it forms a complex inflorescence, which in its shape resembles a kind of large bud, painted in purple or green shades. Banana flowers are arranged in tiers at its base. At the very top are large female flowers that form fruits, below are medium bisexual banana flowers, and even lower are small male flowers, which have the smallest sizes.

Regardless of the size, the banana flower consists of 3 tubular petals with 3 sepals. In most bananas, the color of the petals is white, in the leaves covering them the outer surface is purple, and the inner is dark red. Depending on the type or variety of banana, inflorescences are of two types: upright and drooping.

At night, female flowers are pollinated by bats, and in the morning and afternoon by small mammals or birds. As the banana fruits develop, they become similar to a hand with many fingers growing on it.

At its core, the banana fruit is a berry. Its appearance depends on the species and cultivar. It can be oblong cylindrical or triangular in shape and have a length of 3 to 40 centimeters. Banana skin color can be green, yellow, red and with a silvery tint. As it ripens, the firm flesh becomes soft and juicy. About 300 fruits with a total weight of up to 70 kg can develop from one inflorescence. Banana flesh is creamy, white, orange, or yellow. Banana seeds can be found in wild fruits, and in cultivated species they are almost completely absent. After fruiting is completed, the false stem of the plant dies off, and a new one grows in its place.

Banana palm and banana tree. Do bananas grow on palm trees?

Sometimes a banana is called a banana palm, which is incorrect, since this plant does not belong to the palm family. Banana is a fairly tall plant, so it is not surprising that many people mistake it for a tree. The Greeks and Romans spoke of it as a "wonderful Indian fruit tree" - hence, by analogy with other fruit trees in this region, the expression "banana palm" spread.

The phrase " banana tree”, which is sometimes called a banana, actually refers to plants from the genus paws (lat. Asimina), the annon family, and is associated with the similarity of the fruits of these trees with banana fruits.

Banana is not a fruit, not a tree, not a palm tree. In fact, a banana is a grass (herbaceous plant), and a banana fruit is a berry!

Where do bananas grow?

Bananas grow in tropical and subtropical countries: in South Asia, Latin America, in Malaysia, in the northeast of Australia, as well as on some islands of Japan. IN industrial scale the banana plant is grown in Bhutan and Pakistan, China and India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the Maldives and Nepal, Thailand and Brazil. On the territory of Russia, bananas grow naturally near Sochi, however, due to the fact that winter temperatures often fall below zero degrees, the fruits do not ripen. Moreover, under prolonged adverse conditions, some plants may die.

Banana composition, vitamins and minerals. What are the benefits of bananas?

Bananas are classified as low-fat, but quite nutritious and energy-rich foods. The pulp of its raw fruits is a quarter composed of carbohydrates and sugars, a third of solids. It contains starch, fiber, pectins, proteins and various essential oils giving the fruit its characteristic aroma. The composition of banana pulp includes minerals and vitamins that are useful and necessary for the human body: potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, sodium, copper, zinc, as well as vitamins B, E, C and PP. Thanks to the unique chemical composition The plant has been used in medicine.

How many calories are in a banana?

Data per 100 grams of product:

calorie green banana - 89 kcal;
calorie content of a ripe banana - 110-120 kcal;
calorie content of an overripe banana - 170-180 kcal;
calorie content of dried banana - 320 kcal.

Since bananas are different in size, the calorie content of 1 banana varies between 70-135 kilocalories:

1 small banana weighing up to 80 g and up to 15 cm long contains approximately 72 kcal;
1 medium banana weighing up to 117 g and more than 18 cm long contains approximately 105 kcal;
1 large banana weighing more than 150 g and more than 22 cm long contains about 135 kcal.

Energy value of a ripe banana (ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates) (data per 100 g):

proteins in a banana - 1.5 g (~ 6 kcal);
fats in a banana - 0.5 g (~ 5 kcal);
carbohydrates in a banana - 21 g (~ 84 kcal).

It's important to note that bananas don't do a very good job of curbing hunger, making it worse after a brief satiety. The reason lies in the significant content of sugar, which rises in the blood and after a while increases appetite.

Useful properties of banana. The use of bananas

So what are bananas good for?

Banana pulp is used to relieve inflammatory processes occurring in the oral cavity, as well as a dietary product in the treatment of stomach and duodenal ulcers. In addition, the banana is laxative and is therefore used as a mild laxative. Due to the presence of tryptophan, an amino acid that prevents cell aging and has a beneficial effect on brain function, bananas are recommended to be eaten by the elderly. The presence of potassium and magnesium allows them to be used as a means of preventing high blood pressure and stroke.
Infusion of banana flowers helps in the treatment of diabetes and bronchitis. The juice obtained from banana stems is a good anticonvulsant and sedative.
The invaluable benefits of bananas are concentrated in the peel. Banana skins are used in medicinal purposes. Compresses from young leaves or banana peel contribute to the rapid healing of burns and abscesses on the skin.
Banana peel is used as a fertilizer for both indoor and outdoor flowers. The fact is that it contains a large amount of phosphorus and potassium. With the help of a banana peel, you can also fight aphids, which cannot tolerate excess potassium. To do this, you just need to make a tincture on banana skins and water the plants with it. The easiest way to use banana skins to fertilize flowers is to simply bury them in the ground. To do this, it is enough to cut the peel into small pieces. After this procedure, even the most tired plants begin to leaf out and bloom. Banana peel decomposes in the ground for 10 days, after which bacteria eat it.
The benefits of bananas are invaluable: even overripe bananas produce a very powerful antioxidant that prevents cancer.

Residents of countries located in temperate latitudes are happy to eat raw peeled bananas as a dessert, add them to ice cream and confectionery. Some peoples prefer dried and canned bananas. Also, this berry is fried and boiled with or without the skin, adding salt, hot spices, olive oil, onion or garlic. Bananas can be used to make flour, chips, syrup, marmalade, honey and wine. In addition to fruits, the banana inflorescence is also eaten: raw inflorescences are dipped in sauce, and boiled ones are added to gravies or soups. Starch is prepared from unripe banana fruits. Boiled banana waste of vegetable and dessert varieties is used as feed for large and small livestock.

The fruits and other parts of the banana are used:

in the leather industry as a black dye;
in the textile industry for the production of fabrics;
for the manufacture of extra strong marine ropes and ropes;
in the construction of rafts and the manufacture of seat cushions;
as plates and trays for serving traditional South Asian dishes in India and Sri Lanka.

Bananas: contraindications and harm.

It is undesirable to eat bananas before bedtime, and also to combine with milk, so as not to provoke fermentation in the stomach and not cause intestinal failure.
People with diabetes should not eat bananas because they contain little glucose and fructose, but a lot of sugar.
Bananas can harm people who suffer from thrombophlebitis, as these berries contribute to blood clotting.

Types and varieties of bananas, names and photos.

The genus includes about 70 species of bananas, which, depending on the application, are divided into 3 varieties:

Decorative bananas (inedible);
Plantains (sycamore);
Dessert bananas.

Decorative bananas.

This group includes plants with very beautiful flowers and mostly inedible fruits. They can be wild or grown for beauty. Inedible bananas are also used to make various textile products, car seat cushions and fishing nets. The most famous types of ornamental bananas are:

Banana pointed (lat.Musaacuminata) grown due to beautiful leaves up to one meter long with a large central vein and many small ones, along which the leaf blade divides over time, acquiring resemblance to a bird feather. The leaves of the decorative banana are dark green, often there are specimens with a reddish tinge. In greenhouse conditions, the height of a pointed banana plant can reach 3.5 meters, although in room conditions it grows no more than 2 meters. The size of the fruits of this type of banana ranges from 5 to 30 centimeters, and their color can be green, yellow and even red. The pointed banana is edible and grows in the countries of southeast Asia, in southern China, India and Australia. In countries with colder climates, this type of banana is grown as an ornamental plant.

Blue Burmese banana (lat.Musaitinerans) grows in height from 2.5 to 4 meters. The trunk of a banana is painted in an unusual purple color. green color with a silvery white finish. The color of the leaf plates is bright green, and their length reaches an average of 0.7 meters. The dense peel of the banana fruit has a blue or purple color. The fruits of this banana are unsuitable for food. In addition to its decorative value, the blue banana is used as one of the components of the diet of Asian elephants. Banana grows in the following countries: China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos. This plant can also be grown in a pot.

Banana velvet (velvety, purple, pink) (lat.Musavelutina) has a false trunk height of not more than 1.5 meters with a diameter of about 7 centimeters. Banana leaves, painted in light green, grow up to 1 meter in length and 30 centimeters in width. Many specimens have a red edging along the edge of the leaf plate. The petals of inflorescences, pleasing with their appearance up to six months, are painted purple-pink. The pink peel of a banana is quite thick, and their number in a bunch does not exceed 9 pieces. The length of the fruit is 8 cm. When ripe, the skin of the fruit opens, revealing light flesh with seeds inside.

This variety of banana is used for decorative purposes. It can survive not very cold winter. This banana is also unique in that it will freely bloom and bear fruit almost all year round at home.

Banana bright red (Indochinese banana) (lat.Musacoccinea) is a representative of low-growing plants. Its height rarely exceeds one meter. The shiny surface of narrow bright green banana leaves emphasizes the beauty of inflorescences of juicy scarlet or red color. The flowering period of a banana lasts about 2 months. Grown as an ornamental plant for beautiful orange-red flowers. The birthplace of the Indochinese banana is Southeast Asia.

Banana Darjeeling (lat.Musa sikkimensis) grows up to 5.5 meters in height with a false trunk diameter at the base of about 45 cm. The color of this ornamental banana may have a red tint. The length of gray-green leaves with purple veins often exceeds 1.5-2 meters. Some varieties of the Darjeeling banana have red-tinted leaf plates. Banana fruits are medium-sized, up to 13 cm in length, with a slightly sweet taste. This species is quite frost-resistant and can withstand frosts down to -20 degrees. Banana is grown in many European countries.

Japanese banana, Basho banana or Japanese textile banana (lat. Musa basjoo)- cold-resistant species, reaching a height of 2.5 meters. The surface of the false trunk of a banana is colored greenish or yellowish and covered with a thin waxy layer on which black spots are visible. The length of leaf blades does not exceed 1.5 meters in length and 60 centimeters in width. The color of banana leaves varies from deep dark green at the base of the leaf to pale green at the top. The Japanese banana grows in Japan, as well as in Russia on the Black Sea coast. It is inedible and is grown mainly for fiber, which is used to make clothing, screens, and book bindings.

Banana textile, abaca (lat.Musatextilis) grown to make strong fibers from the leaf sheaths. The height of the false trunk does not exceed 3.5 meters, and the diameter is 20 cm. Narrow green leaves rarely reach a length of more than one meter. The fruits that develop on a drooping brush have a trihedral appearance and sizes up to 8 centimeters. Inside the pulp is a large number of small seeds. The color changes from green to straw yellow as it matures. Textile banana is grown in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Central American countries in order to obtain a durable fiber from which baskets, furniture and other utensils are woven.

Banana Balbisa (fruit) (lat. Musa balbisiana)- This is a large plant with a false stem height of up to 8 meters and a diameter at the base of more than 30 centimeters. Its color changes from green to yellow-green. The length of banana leaves can exceed 3 meters with a width of about 50-60 centimeters. Leaf sheaths are bluish in color and often covered with fine hairs. Fruit sizes reach 10 centimeters in length and 4 cm in width. The color of the banana peel changes with age from light yellow to dark brown or black. Banana fruits are used as feed for pigs. Unripe fruits are preserved. The male flower buds are eaten as a vegetable. Balbis banana grows in India, Sri Lanka and the Malay Archipelago.

Platano (plantains).

Plantain (from French plantain) or plane tree (from Spanish plátano) are rather large bananas, which are mainly (90%) eaten after heat treatment: they are fried in oil, boiled, baked in batter, steamed or made of which are chips. The peel of the plane tree is also used as food. Although there are types of plane trees that, when fully ripe, become softer, sweeter and edible even without prior heat treatment. The color of the sycamore skin can be green or yellow (although they are usually sold greenish), ripe sycamore has a black skin.

Plantains differ from dessert bananas in their thicker skin, as well as tougher and almost unsweetened pulp with a high starch content. Sycamore varieties have found application both in the human menu and in agriculture where they are used as livestock feed. In many countries of the Caribbean, Africa, India and South America, dishes made from plane trees are served as side dishes for meat and fish or as a completely independent dish. Usually they are generously flavored with salt, herbs and hot chili peppers.

Types of plane trees intended for heat treatment are divided into 4 groups, in each of which different varieties are distinguished:

French plane trees: varieties ‘Obino l’Ewai’ (Nigeria), ‘Nendran’ (India), ‘Dominico’ (Colombia).
French horn-shaped plane trees: varieties ‘Batard’ (Cameroon), ‘Mbang Okon’ (Nigeria).
False horn-shaped sycamores: varieties ‘Agbagda’ and ‘Orishele’ (Nigeria), ‘Dominico-Harton’ (Colombia).
Horn-shaped plane trees: varieties ‘Ishitim’ (Nigeria), ‘Pisang Tandok’ (Malaysia).

Below is a description of several varieties of platano:

Ground banana (banana da terra) grows mainly in Brazil. The length of the fetus often reaches 25-27 cm, and the weight is 400-500 grams. The peel is ribbed, thick, and the flesh has an orange tint. Raw, platano is slightly astringent in taste, but after cooking it acquires excellent taste characteristics. The leader among plane trees in terms of the content of vitamins of groups A and C.

Plantain Burro (Burro, Orinoco, Horse, Hog)- herbaceous plant medium height cold resistant. Sycamore fruits 13-15 cm long, enclosed in a trihedral peel. The pulp is dense, with a lemon flavor, raw edible only when overripe, so the variety is usually fried or baked.

- a plant with large fruits up to 20 cm in length. The peel is greenish, slightly rough to the touch, thick. In its raw form, it is inedible due to its strongly astringent taste, but it is great for cooking all kinds of dishes: chips, vegetable stews, mashed potatoes. This type of plane tree grows in India, where it is in unprecedented demand among buyers in ordinary fruit shops.

Dessert bananas.

Dessert varieties of bananas are eaten without heat treatment. In addition, they can be harvested for future use, withering or drying. The best known species of this group is banana paradise (lat. Musa paradisiaca). It grows up to 7-9 meters in height. The thick, fleshy banana leaves are up to 2 meters long and are colored green with brown spots. The ripened fruit reaches up to 20 cm in size with a diameter of about 4-5 cm. Up to 300 banana berries can ripen on one plant, the pulp of which practically does not contain seeds.

Almost all species are artificially cultivated. Among them, the following dessert varieties of bananas are widely used:

Banana variety Lady's finger or Lady Finger (Lady Finger) with a rather thin false trunk, reaching a height of 7-7.5 m. These are small bananas, the length of which does not exceed 12 cm. The banana skin of this variety is colored light yellow with thin red-brown strokes. In one bunch of bananas there are usually up to 20 fruits with creamy pulp. It is widely cultivated in Australia and also distributed in Latin America.

up to 8-9 meters high and large fruits that have a thick yellow peel. The size of a banana fruit can reach 27 cm and weigh more than 200 grams. Banana pulp is creamy in texture. The Gros Michel banana variety tolerates transportation well. Grows in Central America and Central Africa.

Banana variety Dwarf Cavendish(Dwarf Cavendish)- low (1.8-2.4 m) plant with wide leaves. The size of banana fruits varies from 15 to 25 cm. Their ripening is signaled by a bright yellow color of the peel with a small number of small brown spots. It grows in West and South Africa, as well as in the Canary Islands.

Banana variety Ice-cream(IceCream, Cenizo, Krie)- a rather tall plant with a false trunk height of up to 4.5 meters and elongated fruits of four or five-sided shape with sizes up to 23 cm. The color of the peel of an unripe banana has a bluish-silver tint. As they mature, the color of the skin becomes pale yellow. Grown in the Hawaiian Islands, the Philippines and Central America.

Banana variety Red Spanish (Red Spanish) characterized by an unusual purple-red color not only of the false stem, leaf veins, but also of the peel of an unripe banana. As it matures, the skin takes on an orange-yellow hue. The height of the plant can reach 8.5 meters with a trunk diameter at the base of about 45 cm. Fruit sizes are 12-17 cm. These red bananas grow in Spain.

Growing bananas. How do bananas grow?

The most comfortable conditions for growing bananas are daytime temperatures, which are in the range of 26-35 ° C and night temperatures, ranging from 22 to 28 ° C. When the temperature drops environment up to 10 ° C growth completely stops. No less impact during everything life cycle plants have a strictly defined humidity. Long dry periods can lead to the death of the plant. The best places for the organization of banana plantations are fertile acidic soils rich in micro and macro elements.

To combat weeds that interfere with the normal growth of cultivated plants, not only herbicides are used, but also mulching of the root zone with finely chopped fallen leaves. A good result is the use of geese, which willingly eat juicy green weeds, but are absolutely indifferent to bananas. To restore soil fertility, bananas are fertilized with mineral additives. Depending on the condition of the soil, nitrogen, phosphorus or potash fertilizers are used.

From the moment a banana is planted to the end of fruiting, it usually takes from 10 to 19 months. So that the plant does not break from the weight of the ripening fruits, during the ripening of the banana, supports are installed under the brushes. Bananas are harvested when the crop is no more than 75% ripe. In this state, it is cooled and transported to the consumer. Ripe bananas stored in a special gas-air mixture at a temperature of no more than 14 ° C retain their marketable appearance and taste for 50 days.

Growing bananas at home.

Many types of bananas can be cultivated in a greenhouse or even an apartment. Best for home growing undersized varieties banana with variegated decorative leaves and beautiful flowers. To make the plant feel comfortable, it needs a special substrate, consisting of a mixture of universal soil, perlite and finely chopped pine, fir or spruce bark.

Watering banana.

A homemade banana is very demanding on moisture, but you should not overmoisten the plant. It is not recommended to place a room banana near central heating radiators or heaters. To create the necessary moisture, the leaves and the false trunk of a banana are sprayed with a spray bottle. For irrigation, settled water with a temperature of 25 ° C is used. Watering should be carried out without allowing the substrate to dry out by more than 3 centimeters. In the winter months, banana watering is limited.

Fertilizer banana room.

To provide a homemade banana with microelements, it is carried out by root and leaf feeding. It is advisable to alternate the use of mineral and organic fertilizers. In any case, you should not feed the plant more than once every 2 weeks. good influence root loosening of the soil, which provides free access of oxygen to the roots of the plant, has an effect on the growth of bananas.

Propagation of bananas (vegetative and seeds).

Bananas breed:

seeds;
vegetative method.

It is worth noting that the same plant grown by different methods will have different characteristics.

Growing a homemade banana is quite easy. A banana grown from seeds is more viable, but the plant will take a long time to develop and produce inedible fruits. First, banana seeds must be germinated. To do this, their surface is carefully treated with sandpaper or a nail file (a couple of scratches will be enough) so that the sprout can break through the hard shell. Be careful - you do not need to pierce the seed. The seeds are then soaked in boiled water a few days before sprouts appear. Every 6 hours the water must be changed.

The best container for planting bananas is a shallow pot with a diameter of about 10 centimeters. It is filled with drainage (a layer of expanded clay) 2 cm high and a sand-peat mixture 1: 4 4 cm high. To plant banana seeds, they need to be slightly pressed into the surface of moistened soil without falling asleep with earth. After that, cover the container with a transparent film or glass and put it in a well-lit place, excluding direct sun rays. The temperature in the container should be between 27-30 degrees during the day and 25-27 degrees at night. As the substrate dries, it is moistened with a spray bottle. Some gardeners prefer not to remove the film from the container and moisten the substrate through the bottom of the container. If mold appears on the soil, it is necessary to remove it and pour the substrate with a solution of potassium permanganate.

The first banana shoots appear after 2-3 months. From this moment, the active growth of the plant begins, and after 10 days it can be transplanted into a larger pot. As the banana grows, it needs to be transplanted into a larger pot.

Vegetative propagation of bananas.

A faster and more reliable way to get a plant with edible fruits is vegetative propagation. After the end of fruiting, the false banana stem dies off, and new buds begin to develop from the underground stem to replace it. From one grows a new "trunk". At this time, you can pull the rhizome out of the container and carefully separate a piece with an awakened kidney from it. This banana sprout needs to be transplanted into a prepared pot. As the plant grows, it needs to be transplanted into a larger container. It is established that by the time of fruiting, the volume of the pot should be at least 50 liters.

Banana is the fourth most popular crop in the world after wheat, rice and corn. The total number of banana fruits eaten per year by the world's population exceeds 100 billion pieces.
The islands of the Malay Archipelago are the birthplace of the banana. Since ancient times, the inhabitants of the archipelago have been growing this berry and eating it together with fish.
The first mention of the plant as an edible fruit appeared between the 17th and 11th centuries BC. e. in the Indian written source Rig Veda.
In the Ramayana collection (an Indian epic of the 14th century BC), one of the books describes the clothes of the royal family, which were woven from threads obtained from banana leaves.
The Goldfinger banana variety, grown in Australia, has fruits that resemble apples in structure and taste.
If we compare a banana and a potato, it turns out that the calorie content of a potato is one and a half times lower than that of a banana. And raw bananas are almost 5 times less caloric than dried ones. Among the products prepared from this fruit, banana juice is the lowest calorie.