About

Musa is one of three genera in the family Musaceae. The genus includes 83 fruit species of flowering plants producing edible bananas and plantains (also known as cooking bananas), and fiber (abacá), used to make paper and cloth. 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.

How to grow it

A number of distinct groups of plants bearing edible fruit have been developed from species of Musa. In English, fruits which are sweet and used for dessert are usually called "bananas", whereas starchier varieties used for cooking are called "plantains", but these terms do not have any botanical significance. By far the largest and now the most widely distributed group of cultivated bananas is derived from section Musa, particularly M. acuminata and M. balbisiana, either alone or in various hybrid combinations. The next but much smaller group is derived from members of section Callimusa (previously classified as Australimusa) and is restricted in importance to Polynesia. Of even more restricted importance are small groups of hybrids from Papua New Guinea; a group from section Musa to which M. schizocarpa has also contributed, and a group of hybrids between section Musa and section Callimusa.

Banana and plantains are the fourth most produced food globally surpassed only by the staple crops of rice, wheat and maize.

Where it grows

The native distribution of the genus Musa includes most of the Indomalayan realm and parts of north-eastern Australasia. It has been introduced to many other parts of the world with tropical or subtropical climates.

Other Musa plants

Edible banana · Musa ×alinsanaya · Bulada Banana · Musa arunachalensis · Musa aurantiaca · Musa azizii · Banana · Native banana · Musa barioensis · Japanese Banana · Bau Banana · Pisang Tajak