Stats

Lifespan: 6-25 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Tropical rainforest
Range: Southeast Asia
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Toxins
Status: Uncommon

About

A giant herbaceous flowering plant whose 'trunk' is actually a tightly furled stack of leaf sheaths called a pseudostem. Most commercial bananas are seedless clones of a single Cavendish variety, making the entire global crop genetically identical and vulnerable to disease.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Musaceae
Genus: Musa
Species: Musa acuminata