Musa acuminata or the common Banana is an evergreen soft wooded perennial that grows from rhizomes.
Bananas have pseudo-stems formed of rolled leaves that open as large paddle shaped leaves up to 2.5m in length.
The flowerhead grows up through the leaves on an arching spike with tubular female flowers at the base and male flowers forming a bell at the tip
In cultivated bananas the flowerhead hangs down so the female flowers are above the male flowers are not fertilized. The fruit has no seeds.
The time from planting to fruiting will depend on climate, in the tropics it will take about 9months but in Sydney it will take twice as long.
Birds, bats and various other animals love bananas so it is important to protect the bunches as they ripen. The bunches can be cut before they whilst still green and the fruit will continue to ripen.
All bananas are cultivated from rhizomes, this means that all the plants are genetically identical and therefore more susceptible to viruses and disease.
There are various viruses around the world including Bunchy Top Virus that is decimating banana crops. Here in Australia our bananas have not been affected but we need to remain vigilant and respect and obey the Australian Quarantine Laws to keep our crops disease free.