Bulbs
Flower Basics
Flower Beds & Specialty Gardens
Flower Garden
Garden Furniture
Garden Gnomes
Garden Seeds
Garden Sheds
Garden Statues
Garden Tools & Supplies
Gardening Basics
Green & Organic
Groundcovers & Vines
Growing Annuals
Growing Basil
Growing Beans
Growing Berries
Growing Blueberries
Growing Cactus
Growing Corn
Growing Cotton
Growing Edibles
Growing Flowers
Growing Garlic
Growing Grapes
Growing Grass
Growing Herbs
Growing Jasmine
Growing Mint
Growing Mushrooms
Orchids
Growing Peanuts
Growing Perennials
Growing Plants
Growing Rosemary
Growing Roses
Growing Strawberries
Growing Sunflowers
Growing Thyme
Growing Tomatoes
Growing Tulips
Growing Vegetables
Herb Basics
Herb Garden
Indoor Growing
Landscaping Basics
Landscaping Patios
Landscaping Plants
Landscaping Shrubs
Landscaping Trees
Landscaping Walks & Pathways
Lawn Basics
Lawn Maintenance
Lawn Mowers
Lawn Ornaments
Lawn Planting
Lawn Tools
Outdoor Growing
Overall Landscape Planning
Pests, Weeds & Problems
Plant Basics
Rock Garden
Rose Garden
Shrubs
Soil
Specialty Gardens
Trees
Vegetable Garden
Yard Maintenance
What Are the Parts of a Banana Plant?
What Are the Parts of a Banana Plant?. The banana tree is not a tree at all, but a herbaceous plant with pseudostems wrapped together to form a trunk-like structure. It blooms within a year of planting, producing fruit within two to three months of flowering. Bananas are tropical plants, susceptible to cold temperatures. There are many different...
The banana tree is not a tree at all, but a herbaceous plant with pseudostems wrapped together to form a trunk-like structure. It blooms within a year of planting, producing fruit within two to three months of flowering. Bananas are tropical plants, susceptible to cold temperatures. There are many different varieties, some of which are inedible.
The Matt
Banana rhizomes, or underground stems, grow suckers from many different points on the rhizome. Each rhizome produces many fibrous roots that intertwine to form a matt. Roots reach down 5 feet into soil and extend outward for up to 16 feet.
Suckers
Two different types of suckers or sprouts emerge from the matt. The sword suckers develop into producing psuedostems. Sword suckers have narrow leaves.
Water suckers are weak psuedostems with broad leaves. They produce poorly. Most growers eliminate the water suckers, leaving sword suckers to grow into replacement pseudostems.
Very small sprouts, less than a foot tall, are called peepers until they are identifiable as sword suckers or water suckers.
Pseudostems
Suckers grow into pseudostems, if they are allowed to remain on the matt. Most growers allow four to five pseudostems to develop on the matt, in addition to the main stem. Each pseudostem on a banana plant produces fruit only once. Once the main stem produces fruit, most gardeners cut it away and one of the remaining pseudostems produces the following year.
Flowers
The flowering stalk emerges from the pseudostem within approximately 10 to 15 months. The female flowers appear first in groups of 10 or 20 and do not require pollination in many varieties. These flowers produce bananas with each cluster of flowers producing a hand of bananas. The later flowers are male and drop away.
Fruit
Bananas are berries. Most of the edible varieties are formed without pollination, so the seeds are sterile and will not germinate.
