Banana

Musa × paradisiaca
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Musaceae
Genus:	Musa
Species:	M. × paradisiaca
Binomial name
Musa × paradisiaca L.

Bananas and plantains are tall tree-like herbaceous plants (not true trees), which are most commercially valuable for their carbohydrate-rich fruit, but have several other edible parts as well, including the flower buds and the tender part of the stem. The fruit is a starchy food like a potato (which requires thorough cooking) when unripe, and when ripe, a sweet fruit that can be eaten raw.

Edible products

• Unripe fruit (must be cooked, for example mashed and fried in tostones)
• Ripe fruit (raw or cooked)
• Flower bud ("banana blossom"/"banana heart")
• Tender stem

References

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Musa × paradisiaca, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.