Edible portion : Stem, Flowers, Fruit, Buds, Seeds, Roots
A large herb. It grows 3-10 m tall. It keeps growing from year to year by re-growing new stalks from the underground root stock. The leaves are green and 3 m long. The flowers are purple. The fruit are pale yellow. They are 3 sided and 8 cm long. The fruit have seeds. This is the small diploid. The flower is pink and yellow and resembles a lotus bud. The fruit are in an upright spike. It needs pollination to produce seeds. Many bananas are hybrids between acuminata and balbisiana. See Musa x paradisiaca
A tropical plant. It grows in damp forests in N Thailand. It suits hardiness zones 10-12.