Bananas

This shadow of a banana leaf on another banana leaf resembles a gaping creature, wearing a tall hat. The picture was taken at the foot of the Rinjani Volcano, Lombok, Indonesia. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

The tall and sturdy banana plants are often called banana trees or banana palms, but both these terms are erroneous, as the plant is actually a huge herb, whose ‘trunk’ consists of thick layers of modified, closely packed leaf-stalks, forming a so-called pseudostem (false stem), also called a corm.

These plants, comprising about 85 species of the genus Musa, are native to subtropical and tropical areas, from the Indian Subcontinent eastwards across Indochina and southern China to Taiwan, and thence southwards through Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and New Guinea to north-eastern Australia.

Leaves

Banana leaves grow in spirals and may be up to 2.7 m long and 60 cm wide. They are often tattered, torn into horizontal strips by the wind, often all the way to the midrib.

When this leaf of Taiwan banana (Musa formosana) was young and still rolled up, insect larvae made tunnels through it, and when the leaf unfolded, these patterns were revealed. – Malabang National Forest, Hsinchu, Taiwan. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

On this banana leaf, observed near Guoxing, western Taiwan, the shadow of a leaf with a fate similar to the one described above, creates the outline of a robot-like creature with an angular head. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Below is a collection of pictures, showing tattered banana leaves, all photographed in Taiwan.

Withering banana leaves often show very beautiful patterns. The pictures below are all from Taiwan.

Flower and fruit

When a banana plant is mature, a harder stem develops inside the pseudostem, emerging at the top of the plant, carrying a single, huge inflorescence. The fruits grow in several large clusters, sitting in rows down the stout flower stalk, each containing between 10 and 30 bananas. They are so heavy that the stalk is bent downwards.

Monkeys and apes love bananas, as is evident from the pictures below. – These animals are described in depth on the page Animals – Mammals: Monkeys and apes.

This young long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is stuffing itself with bananas. It lives in the forest around the Wenara Wana Temple (popularly called ‘Monkey Forest’), near Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

In Borneo, a number of rehabilitation centres for orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus) have been established, where orphaned young orangutans, which have been confiscated from poachers, are trained to live in the forest, after which they are released into safe areas, such as national parks. In 1985, I visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, near the town of Sandakan, Sabah. This visit is related in detail on the page Travel episodes – Borneo 1985: Visiting orangutans.

This 8-year-old orangutan, named Juliana, lives in the forest around Sepilok. Occasionally, she comes to the centre to get bananas. She lost an arm, when she climbed a pole and got an electric shock. Her left arm became lame and had to be amputated. (Photo copyright © by Kaj Halberg)

Cultivation and usage

Bananas were probably first cultivated in New Guinea, and today they are grown worldwide in warmer countries. Most are grown for their edible fruits, raw or cooked, the latter often called plantains. Other types are cultivated for their fibres, to make wine and beer, or as ornamentals.

The huge leaves have a wide range of usage, being both flexible and waterproof. They are much utilized for wrapping, including in cooking, where various foods are often wrapped in the leaves before being steamed.

In various Hindu and Buddhist ceremonies, the leaves are used as decoration, often having a symbolic meaning. In former times, in India and Southeast Asia, banana leaves were used as writing material. Before the introduction of plastic, they were also utilized in many areas as rain ponchos.

Today, almost all edible bananas are cultivars of two wild species, Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana, and the hybrid between them, called Musa × paradisiaca. Formerly, the scientific name of edible bananas was Musa sapientum, which is no longer accepted.

Other species of banana include the scarlet Musa coccinea and the pink M. velutina, and the term also refers to members of the genus Ensete, including snow banana (E. glaucum) and false banana (E. ventricosum).

Taiwan banana (Musa formosana)

This species, which may grow to 6 m tall, is endemic to Taiwan, growing on forested slopes, from near sea level to an altitude of about 1,000 m.

(Uploaded February 2019)

(Latest update October 2024)

Kaj Halberg - writer & photographer

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Bananas