Do bananas grow on a palm tree? Gourmania

There are few people who don't like bananas. This sweet overseas fruit is on the shelves of our supermarkets all year round, as it ripens rather quickly and the plant has several such cycles per year. Let's find out where bananas grow and how they are grown.

Fruit now mainly comes to the expanses of the former USSR from, whereas earlier they were imported to us from Cuba, a friendly island state. So the answer to the question in which natural zone the banana grows is obvious - it is cultivated in the tropics, where the climate is quite hot and humid.

But not only these states are producers and suppliers of bananas to the world market. They also include some African states, as well as Latin America (Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Panama).

But most of all bananas are grown by India and China, and it is here that the birthplace of bananas, here they appeared first of all. But not all of them are exported, but serve more for the personal consumption of the population of these countries. Bananas from Asia are not easy to find on the European market.

As strange as it may sound, bananas are also grown on the Scandinavian Islands, namely in Iceland. How is it possible in such an uncomfortable climate with a minimum of sunny days and a fairly cool temperature?

It's simple - bananas grow in huge greenhouses, where there are all the conditions for their ripening - bright light, high humidity and temperature. Bananas were introduced into the country back in the 30s of the last century and after a while became one of the country's export destinations.

Do bananas grow in Russia?

Due to the harsh climate of most of the Russian Federation, banana cultivation is not possible here. But this only applies to outdoor cultivation. But in a greenhouse, this is quite real, and some amateurs for the sake of entertainment are engaged in the cultivation of this overseas fruit and have an excellent result.

In Sochi, Anapa and Gelenzhik, you can also find this plant, but not in a greenhouse, but in the open air. True, there is no way to wait for the fruits - they simply do not have time to ripen. So bananas grow here only as a decoration for landscaping the site.

Do bananas grow on palms?

Often in cartoons, they show how bananas are plucked from a tall palm tree, crowned on top with clusters and a green crown. But it turns out that these fruits do not grow on trees at all.

It turns out that a banana is growing on the grass. Yes, yes, this is a herbaceous plant, but not in the usual sense of the word. This grass is simply huge, reaching 15 meters in height, and the width of the leaf is about a meter. These are the giants that grow in the tropics.

The plant does not have a stem as such, it is made up of leaves that rush up and fit tightly with the handle to each other. There is only one flower from which bananas will then turn out, and when it fades, a huge bunch of 60 or more bananas forms in its place, which are tightly attached to the base.

Harvesting

As soon as the bunch grows up, it is packed in a linen or cellophane bag so that volatiles do not damage it. mice and large insects. Ripening lasts 11 weeks, and during this time the fruits have time to increase in size enough, but still do not turn yellow. This will happen later, on the way to the consumer.

When the bananas are ready for harvesting, the workers, and they are trampled upon, install a kind of conveyor on the plantation. After that, one tilts the trunk with the fruits and chops off the bunch with a sharp ax.

At this time, the task of the second worker is to prevent injury to the bunch - he simply has to catch it. After that, bags with banana bunches are hung on hooks and on a rope go to the place of washing, disinfection and packaging.

Banana ( Musa) Is a perennial herb that belongs to the flowering department, the monocotyledonous class, the order of the gingerbread, the banana family, the banana genus.

The 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 "muz" - the name of the edible fruit that forms on this plant. The concept of "banana" has 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 in the late 16th and early 17th centuries from the vocabulary of tribes living in West Africa.

Banana - description, structure, characteristics and photos

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

Trunk and roots

The 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, stretching from 2 to 12 meters in height and having a diameter of up to 40 cm, has dense and long leaves that are layered on top of each other.

Banana leaves

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

How does a banana bloom?

The active growth of bananas lasts from 8 to 10 months, after which the flowering phase begins. At this time, a long peduncle grows from the underground tuberous stem upwards through the entire trunk. Having made its way outside, 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 with the smallest sizes.

Regardless of the size, the banana flower consists of 3 tubular petals with 3 sepals. Most bananas have white petals, while the leaves that cover them have a purple outer surface and a dark red inner surface. Depending on the type or variety of banana, inflorescences are of two types: erect and drooping.

At night, pollination of female flowers occurs, and in the morning and afternoon by small mammals or birds. As the banana fruit develops, it resembles a hand with many fingers.

At its core, the banana fruit is a berry. Its appearance depends on the species and variety. It can be oblong cylindrical or triangular in shape and have a length of 3 to 40 centimeters. Banana peels can be green, yellow, red and silvery. 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 pulp is creamy, white, orange, or yellow. Banana seeds can be found in wild fruits, and in cultivated species they are almost completely absent. After the completion of fruiting, 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 palms?

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's no surprise that many people mistake it for a tree. The Greeks and Romans referred to 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 Azimine ( Asimina), of the Annon family and is associated with the similarity of the fruits of these trees to the fruits of a banana.

Banana is not a fruit, not a tree or a palm tree. In fact, a banana is a herb (herb) and a banana fruit is a berry!

Where do bananas grow?

Bananas grow in tropical and subtropical countries: in South Asia, Latin America, Malaysia, northeastern Australia, as well as on some islands in Japan. The banana plant is grown commercially 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 unfavorable conditions, some of the plants may die.

Banana composition, vitamins and minerals. Why are bananas good for you?

Bananas are classified as low-fat, but nutritious and energetically valuable foods. The pulp of its raw fruit consists of a quarter of carbohydrates and sugars, and a third of dry matter. It contains starch, fiber, pectins, proteins and various essential oils that give the fruit its characteristic aroma. The composition of banana pulp contains minerals and vitamins useful and necessary for the human body: potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, sodium, copper, zinc, as well as vitamins of group B, E, C and PP... Due to its unique chemical composition, the plant has found application in medicine.

How many calories are in a banana?

Data per 100 grams of product:

• calorie content of a green banana - 89 kcal;
• the calorie content of a ripe banana is 110-120 kcal;
• the calorie content of a ripe banana is 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 in length 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);
• fat in banana - 0.5 g (~ 5 kcal);
• carbohydrates in a banana - 21 g (~ 84 kcal).

It's important to note that bananas don't do very well with hunger, increasing hunger after brief satiety. The reason lies in the significant sugar content, which rises in the blood and, after a while, increases the appetite.

Useful properties of a banana. The use of bananas

So what are bananas good for?

• Banana pulp is used to relieve inflammation in the oral cavity, as well as a dietary product in the treatment of stomach and duodenal ulcers. In addition, banana is a 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 for the elderly. The presence of potassium and magnesium makes them useful in preventing high blood pressure and stroke.
• Banana flower infusion helps in the treatment of diabetes and bronchitis. The juice obtained from banana stalks is a good anticonvulsant and sedative.
• The invaluable benefits of bananas are concentrated in the peel. Banana skins are used medicinally. Compresses from young leaves or banana peels promote rapid healing of burns and abscesses on the skin.
• Banana peel is used as a fertilizer for indoor and outdoor flowers. The fact is that it contains a large amount of phosphorus and potassium. With the help of banana peel, you can also fight with, which does not tolerate an excess of 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 peels 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 and bloom. The banana peel takes 10 days to decompose in the ground, after which the 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 a peel, adding salt, hot spices, olive oil, onions or garlic. Bananas can be used to make flour, chips, syrup, marmalade, honey and wine. In addition to fruits, banana inflorescences are 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 waste of vegetable and dessert bananas is used as feed for large and small livestock.

The fruits and the rest 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, as well as combine with milk, so as not to provoke fermentation in the stomach and not cause a malfunction in the intestines.
• People with diabetes are not allowed to eat bananas because they are low in glucose and fructose, but very high in sugar.
• Bananas can harm people who suffer from thrombophlebitis, since these berries contribute to blood clotting.

Types and varieties of bananas, names and photos

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

• Ornamental bananas (inedible);
• Plantains (plane tree);
• 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 textiles, car seat cushions and fishing nets. The most famous types of decorative bananas are:

• Pointed banana (Musa acuminata)

grown because of 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 a resemblance to a bird's feather. Ornamental banana leaves are dark green; specimens with a reddish tint are often found. In greenhouse conditions, the height of the pointed banana plant can reach 3.5 meters, although under indoor 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 Southeast Asia, southern China, India and Australia. In countries with colder climates, this type of banana is grown as an ornamental plant.

• Blue Burmese Banana (Musa itinerans)

grows in height from 2.5 to 4 meters. The banana trunk is painted in an unusual violet-green color with a silvery-white coating. The color of the leaf plates is bright green, and their average length reaches 0.7 meters. The dense peel of the banana fruit is blue or purple in color. The fruits of this banana are not edible. Besides its decorative value, the blue banana is used as one of the components of the Asian diet. Banana grows in the following countries: China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos. Also this plant can be grown in a pot.

• Musa velutina)

has a false trunk height of no more than 1.5 meters with a diameter of about 7 centimeters. Banana leaves, colored light green, grow up to 1 meter long and 30 centimeters wide. In many specimens, a red border runs along the edge of the leaf plate. The petals of the inflorescences, pleasing with their appearance for up to six months, are painted in a purple-pink color. 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 a light pulp with seeds inside.

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

• Musa coccinea)

is a representative of low-growing plants. Its height rarely exceeds one meter. The shiny surface of the narrow bright green leaves of the banana emphasizes the beauty of the inflorescences of a 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 homeland of the Indo-Chinese banana is Southeast Asia.

• Darjeeling banana (Musa sikkimensis)

grows up to 5.5 meters in height with a false trunk diameter of about 45 cm at the base. The color of this decorative banana can have a red tint. The length of gray-green leaves with purple veins often exceeds 1.5-2 meters. Some varieties of Darjeeling banana have red leaf blades. 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 ( Musa basjoo)

cold-resistant species, reaching a height of 2.5 meters. The surface of the false trunk of a banana is painted in greenish or yellowish shades and is covered with a thin wax-like layer, on which black spots are visible. The length of the leaf blades does not exceed 1.5 meters in length and 60 centimeters in width. Banana leaves vary in color from a deep dark green at the base of the leaf to a 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 for the production of clothing, screens, book bindings.

• Banana textile, abaca (Musa textilis)

grown to make strong fibers from leaf sheaths. The height of the false trunk does not exceed 3.5 meters, and the diameter is 20 cm. The narrow green leaves rarely reach a length of more than one meter. Fruits developing on a drooping brush have a triangular appearance and are up to 8 centimeters in size. There are a lot of small seeds inside the pulp. The color changes from green to straw yellow as it ripens. The textile banana is grown in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Central America for the purpose of obtaining durable fiber, from which baskets, furniture and other utensils are woven.

• Banana Balbis (fruit) ( Musa balbisiana)

it is a large plant with a false stem height of up to 8 meters and a diameter of more than 30 centimeters at the base. Its color varies from green to yellow-green. Banana leaves can be more than 3 meters long and about 50-60 centimeters wide. The sheaths of the leaves are painted in bluish shades and are often covered with fine hairs. Fruit sizes reach 10 centimeters in length and 4 cm in width. Banana peel color changes with age from light yellow to dark brown or black. Banana fruits are used as food for. Unripe fruits are preserved. Male flower buds are eaten as a vegetable. The Balbis banana grows in India, Sri Lanka and the Malay Archipelago.

Platano (plantains)

Plantane (from French plantain) or plane tree (from Spanish plátano) are rather large bananas, which are mostly (in 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 eaten. Although there are types of plane trees that, when fully ripe, become softer, sweeter and edible even without preliminary heat treatment. The skin color of the plane tree can be green or yellow (although they are usually sold greenish), the ripe plane tree has a black skin.

Plantanas differ from dessert bananas in thicker peels, as well as tough and almost unsweetened flesh with a high starch content. Platano varieties have found application both in the human menu and in agriculture, where they are used as feed for livestock. 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 meal. 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: ‘Obino l’Ewai’ (Nigeria), ‘Nendran’ (India), ‘Dominico’ (Colombia) varieties.
• French carob-shaped plane trees: ‘Batard’ (Cameroon), ‘Mbang Okon’ (Nigeria).
• False horn-shaped plane trees: ‘Agbagda’ and ‘Orishele’ (Nigeria), ‘Dominico-Harton’ (Colombia).
• Carob-like plane trees: ‘Ishitim’ (Nigeria), ‘Pisang Tandok’ (Malaysia).

Below is a description of several varieties of plane trees:

• Ground banana (banana da terra)

grows mainly in Brazil. The length of the fruit often reaches 25-27 cm, and the weight is 400-500 grams. The peel is ribbed, thick, and the flesh has an orange tint. In its raw form, the sycamore is slightly astringent in taste, but after cooking it acquires excellent taste characteristics. The leader among the platanos in terms of the content of vitamins of group A and C.

• Plantane Burro (Burro, Orinocо, Horse, Hog)

herbaceous plant of medium height, resistant to cold. The fruits of the plane tree are 13-15 cm long, enclosed in a triangular peel. The pulp is dense, with a lemon flavor, in its raw form it is edible only when overripe, therefore the variety is usually fried or baked.

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 highly astringent taste, but it is perfect for preparing 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 by drying or drying. The most famous species of this group is banana paradise ( Musa paradisiaca) ... It grows up to 7-9 meters in height. The thick, fleshy leaves of a banana are 2 meters long and are green with brown spots. The ripe 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 widespread:

• Banana variety Ladies' finger or 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 skin of this banana variety is colored light yellow with thin red-brown strokes. One bunch of bananas usually contains up to 20 fruits with a 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 rind. The size of a banana fruit can reach 27 cm and weigh more than 200 grams. Banana pulp with a delicate, creamy consistency. The Gros-Michel banana variety tolerates transportation well. It grows in the countries of Central America and Central Africa.

• Banana variety Dwarf Cavendish(Dwarf Cavendish)

low (1.8-2.4 m) plant with wide leaves. The sizes of banana fruits vary from 15 to 25 cm. Their ripening is indicated by the bright yellow color of the peel with a few small brown specks. 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 a four or pentahedral shape with sizes up to 23 cm. The color of the peel of an unripe banana has a bluish-silvery hue. As they mature, the color of the skin turns pale yellow. Grown in Hawaii, the Philippines and Central America.

• Banana variety 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 ripens, the skin acquires an orange-yellow hue. Plant height can reach 8.5 meters with a trunk diameter of about 45 cm at the base. 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 ranging from 26-35 ° C and night temperatures ranging from 22 to 28 ° C. When the ambient temperature drops to 10 ° C, growth stops completely. A strictly defined humidity has no less influence during the entire life cycle of a plant. Prolonged dry periods can lead to plant death. The best places to organize a banana plantation are fertile acidic soils, rich in micro and macro elements.

To control 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 the banana. To restore the fertility of the land, banana fertilizing with mineral additives is used. 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 10 to 19 months. So that the plant does not break from the severity of ripening fruits, props are installed under the brushes during the ripening of the banana. 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 presentation and taste for 50 days.

Growing bananas at home

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

Watering a banana

Homemade banana is very demanding on moisture, but you should not overmoisten the plant. It is not recommended to place the indoor banana near central heating radiators or heaters. To create the necessary moisture, the leaves and the false trunk of the banana are sprayed with a spray bottle. For irrigation, settled water with a temperature of 25 ° C is used. Watering must be carried out, preventing the substrate from drying out by more than 3 centimeters. Limit watering of the banana during the winter months.

Fertilizing indoor banana

To provide a home banana with trace elements, root and foliar feeding is carried out. 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. A good effect on the growth of bananas has a root loosening of the soil, which provides free access of oxygen to the roots of the plant.

Banana propagation (vegetative and seed)

Bananas multiply:

• seeds;
• vegetative method.

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

Growing a homemade banana is easy enough. A banana grown from seed is more viable, but the plant will take a long time to develop and produce inedible fruits. The banana seeds need to be germinated first. To do this, their surface is carefully processed 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 not to pierce the seed. Then the seeds are soaked in boiled water for several days until sprouts appear. The water must be changed every 6 hours.

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 the moistened soil, without covering them with earth. After that, cover the container with a transparent film or glass and put it in a well-lit place that excludes direct sunlight. 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 water the substrate with a solution of potassium permanganate.

The first shoots of a banana 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 it grows, the banana needs to be transplanted into a larger pot.

Vegetative propagation of bananas

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

• Banana berry ranks fourth among the world's crops in popularity after rice and. 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 cultivating 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. NS. in the Indian written source of the Rig Veda.
• In the Ramayana collection (Indian epic of the XIV 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 are similar in structure and taste.
• If we compare a banana and a potato, it turns out that the calorie content is one and a half times lower than that of a banana. And raw bananas are almost 5 times less nutritious than dried ones. Banana juice is the lowest calorie among the products made from this fruit.

Since childhood, we are used to thinking that bananas grow on palms. But it turns out that the banana is a herb. Of course, not the one that grows on lawns, but a gigantic one, reaching a height of 5-6 to 15 m.
Grass, then! A resident of central Russia, who is accustomed to stooping in three deaths to look for strawberries with lingonberries in a forest ant, is hard to imagine a banana grass three to four meters high, on the stem of which three hundred "berries" weighing half a centner hang. In addition, the diameter of the "grass" is a dozen centimeters. From above, it ends with a spreading panicle of oblong leaves (which is why the reaction of the European is unambiguous: a palm tree). From a rosette of leaves from top to bottom hangs something like a trunk of one and a half meters in length.
Bananas don't have a trunk (like trees) - they don't even have a normal stem. Its stem looks more like a tuber and is almost invisible above the ground. But there are huge leaf-webs, up to 6 m long and up to a meter wide.

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

Their homeland is called 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 Indian pagodas that have survived from those times have roofs that exactly repeat the shape of a banana: so it was respected. From India and China, the banana culture spread to Asia Minor.

Later they began to be grown on the east and west coast of Africa. In the 16th century, they were brought to the Canary Islands, to Central and South America. Banana plantations are the last in the world to get out there, and they are best promoted in their cultivation and sale: Ecuador, Colombia, Panama supply all of Europe with bananas. If earlier we ate - it is understandable 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 bunch begin to form, a plastic cover is urgently pulled over it, so that, God forbid, nothing will settle on the ripening fruits. So they grow under hoods, protected from tropical bastards, insects, for eleven weeks. They don't reach full ripeness, but take them to another continent!

It is at this stage that the harvest season comes. Nothing has changed over the centuries: just as great-grandfathers and grandfathers gathered crops, they still do so. The worker, holding a long pole with a powerful cleaver screwed on at the end, approaches the trunk and deftly bales it in the heights, cuts off a huge bunch. And how it will rustle down ... (I see, our people have already shuddered, giving away six hundred square meters: an apple or a pear will fall - it's a pity that will remain! And here fifty kilograms of banana tenderness are crashing down to the ground ?!)

So they were in vain to get scared - centuries of experience teaches: there is no better landing place for a bunch than the shoulders and back of the second worker, specially standing next to it. Having briskly amortized, he drags the crop to the warehouse on himself. There, the bunches will be disassembled into small parts, 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 from the rhizome of the earth, new "blades of grass" are already creeping into the light of God. True, they grow to maturity for a whole year. And they will also bring only one bunch each, but the process of renewal 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 may bananas not disappear on our table!

At night, banana flowers are visited by bats, and during the day, numerous insects, sunbirds and squirrel-like animals - tupai, which belong to distant monkeys, visit the flowers. Bananas are generously treated to all visitors with nectar. After pollination, the covering leaves fall off, and fruits begin to set in place of 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 ripe.

The yellow crescent fruit of a banana bears little resemblance to a berry *, but from a botanical 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 fruits that we can buy in our markets and stores. There are shorter fruits, there are oval or almost round, and there are both longer and thinner. When ripe, the peel sometimes does not turn yellow, but turns red. But such bananas do not deliver to us - they do not tolerate transportation well.

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

A green banana has the consistency of a potato and tastes strongly 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 chopped off from the trunk and put to ripen. A few days after harvesting, green bananas ripen and become our usual yellow. Selling 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 today, contain large, hard seeds and very little pulp. They are pollinated by bats.

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

Most banana plants have not had "sex" in 10,000 years. Almost every banana that we eat with such pleasure is multiplied by hand: from the shoot of an existing plant, whose genetic fund has not been renewed for 100 centuries. As a result, the banana is extremely susceptible to various kinds of diseases. Many of its species have already fallen prey 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 in the near future, 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 costs $ 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 purchases the entire banana crop from Belize every year, is Irish.

With the same mass, dried bananas contain 5 times more calories than fresh ones.
India produces more bananas than any other country in the world.
Sprinter Linford Christie - Olympic gold medalist - includes fried plantain in his diet before competition or training.

In East Africa, bananas are fermented and made into beer.

Bananas are eaten raw, fried and boiled. Bananas are used to prepare soups, pastries, desserts, and main courses. But special varieties of bananas are fried and boiled. The bananas we eat are bred by crossing different types of bananas.
Bananas are not only eaten. A black dye is made from the banana peel; leaves are used for baking, instead of foil and baking paper; light structures and rafts are made from stems; the leaves are used to make packages.