Musa acuminata (Banana)

Native to tropical and subtropical Asia, this giant perennial herb is a principal ancestor of cultivated dessert bananas. Its apparent trunk is a pseudostem made from overlapping leaf bases, arising from an underground rhizome. Hanging inflorescences bear red to purple bracts and cream-colored flowers with yellow tips. Wild plants produce numerous hard seeds. Each pseudostem fruits only once, then dies as new suckers replace it.

Domestication produced forms with fleshy, largely seedless fruits that develop without pollination. These plants are propagated by suckers or other vegetative methods. Crosses with Musa balbisiana also contributed to many cultivated banana groups. Dessert bananas are eaten raw or used in baked goods, while the large leaves serve as food wrappers and plates. Photographed in the central Andes mountain range of Colombia.