ALL ABOUT BANANAS
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Musa species
FAMILY: Musaceae
Introduction
For productiveness combined with grandeur, the banana is without a rival in the vegetable kingdom. For the inhabitants of the tropics it replaces the potato of the temperate zones. South Florida is climatically suited for the dooryard cultivation of this interesting fruit which bears at an early age and is in season throughout the year. Among the topics covered will be growing requirements, pests, diseases, descriptions of some bananas grown in Florida including unusual and freak Polynesian strains, selection of propagating material, wild seeded bananas, mutations, early banana export trade and many other banana related subjects. For those of you who do not already grow this universally favoured fruit, why not start your own 'Banana Patch'?
Bananas
Family Musaceae contains 2 genera - Musa and Ensete (Abyssinian Banana). Musa is divided into 4 sections of which one (Eumusa) contains the great majority of edible bananas. The other 3 include Abaca (Musa textilis) yielding an important fibre, fehi and several minor fibres and ornamentals.
Derivation of Names
Musa by Linneaus - name for genus - comes from Arabic word 'Mouz' which is derived from the Sanskrit 'Moka' or from the southern Arabian town of the same name.
The word 'Banana', in European usage, is of comparatively recent origin, having been taken from the Guinea coast of West Africa to the New World by Portugese travellers at the beginning of the 16th. Century. Both 'Plantain' and 'Banana' were fully-established terms in the British West Indies by the middle of the 17th Century (Cheesman - 1948).
Early History
Bananas originated in S.E. Asia and were probably among the first crop plants of primitive man.
The earliest records of banana cultivation came from India in 500-600 B. C.
In 1516, Friar Tomas de Berlanga introduced an unidentified banana clone to Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic).
Commercial Production and Export Trade
The cultivated banana is doubtless the most important and most widely grown of all tropical fruit (Dahlgren).
For productiveness combined with grandeur, the banana is without a rival in the vegetable kingdom (MacMillan).
It is the most prolific of all food-crops, producing, as calculated by "Humbolt", 4,000 lbs. in a space required to produce 33 lbs. of wheat and 98 lbs. of potatoes.
Bananas have reached 27 tons per acre. The Canary Islands average 16 tons per acre. (Cavendish).
For the inhabitants of the tropics, it replaces the potato of the temperate zones.
Commercial banana cultivation lies between 30 degrees N. Lat. and 30 degrees S. Lat., with the exception of New South Wales, Taiwan and Israel.
1866 - First regular carriage of fruit exported from what was then Colombia (later Panama) to New York.
1901 - First 3 refrigerated banana ships - Elder, Dempster and Co.
1903 - United Fruit Co. refrigerated the Venus and from that time on refrigerated ships became the standard for the longer hauls.
Export fruit is cut and harvested at a stage of immaturity when the bananas weigh only about half as much as when fully mature and contain less than half as much edible pulp. This is to allow suitable time for the fruit to reach the export market prior to ripening.
Bananas are transported in refrigerated ships at 52-56 deg. F. About 68 deg. F. is used for ripening and ethylene gas at l.p.p. thousand used to initiate ripening.
Probably bananas reached their first peak of nation-wide US. popularity in the 1920s when parents danced to a musical hit of the time, "Yes We have no bananas," while their children used banana oil to assemble model airplanes.
The Hawaiian Islands at one time had a brisk trade exporting bananas to the US. West Coast. Today bananas are still commercially grown in Hawaii but are supplemented by imports to meet the local demand.
The oldest commercial banana fields in continuous cultivation are in Madras, India, where they have been in production for over one hundred years.
Total world banana production was estimated a few years ago at 20 million tons, of which 15% is exported by the producing countries and the rest is consumed locally. The US. is the largest importer of bananas taking 50% that enters international trade.
Banana pulp - ripe - is 70% water, the solids are mostly carbohydrates, fat and protein are very low. Eleven vitamins have been recorded and the fruit has one calorie per gram.
Other uses of the banana plant in addition to fruit production is the utilisation of banana leaves to roof houses, make mats, bags and baskets. In the Far East the male flower buds are used as a vegetable.
Nomenclature
Roots
Banana roots - Fawcett (1913) extend 17' from the plant laterally and descend commonly to a depth of 2½ feet. However most of the roots are in the top 6" of the soil. Growth rates of roots ranged up to 2' per month.
Suckers
Each leaf base has a bud, but few develop. The buds ( suckers) tend to be borne on the middle and upper parts of the parent corm, therefore there is a tendency for successive shoots to be borne nearer and nearer the soil surface until, they finally literally grow out of the ground. Each clump therefore, tends to have a limited life during which new shoots are firmly anchored in the soil.
Trunks
Trunks are leaf sheaths totally packed together, at first completely enclosing but later, the free margins are forced apart by continued growth of new leaves in the heart of the pseudostem or false stem. In section, the sheath is crescent shaped tapering at each side to a paper-thin margin.
Leaves
The leaf consists of a sheath (which forms the trunk), petiole and blade.
Leaves emerge as a tightly rolled cylinder, the right half rolled upon itself and the left half rolled upon the right half and the mid-rib. Unrolling starts at the tip of the leaf and progresses downward as it thrust clear of the base of the pseudostem.
Sword leaves - very narrow leaves produced by vigorously growing suckers.
Broad-leaved suckers - also known as 'water suckers'.
The surface of the leaf petiole has a round lower configuration and is channelled above, making it from a mechanical design viewpoint, uniquely suited to support the weight of the leaf blade. Its interior is made up of a pithy structure with air spaces which enables a fairly good further weight/strength ratio. The concave leaf petiole, when above the horizontal position catches and channels rain so it runs down the trunk. At the end of its life the petiole collapses and the leaf hangs down.
Under strong sunlight conditions, that portion of the leaf each side of the mid-rib tends to hang down so as to receive less light and reduce the rate of transpiration of moisture. As the intensity of the sun's rays, with its attendant heat diminishes, the leaves return to their normal flat profile.
Leaf size can vary according to temperature (smaller in winter in Florida), rainfall (protracted dry spells) and wind (windy season) breaking margins of leaf blades at right angles to and as far as the mid-rib.
Towards flowering, leaves attain maximum size, but just prior to emergence of the flowering sheath there is a sharp decline in size.
Number of leaves - healthy bananas normally have about 10-15, exceptionally 20 green leaves at one time.
Dwarf Cavendish in Queensland produce 45- 60 leaves during the life of the plant.
Individual leaves were found to have a life of 71-281 days.
In Israel, a controlled banana-bearing season for optimum market prices is brought about by removal of some of the leaves prior to the appearance of the bloom and also by planting suckers during a certain season of the year. Without this artificial control the Israel banana crop would have to compete with other fruits and bring a lesser economic return.
Flowers
An inflorescence is said to:Inflorescence (flower sheath) on 'Lacatan' may ascend from the base of the trunk to the top in one month, averaging 3.2" per day.
The first flowers on a banana inflorescence to open are female (those at the top of the stalk), those further down are bisexual and finally those at the end are male.
The male flowers are deciduous and the axis which bears them continues to grow while the fruit develops.
Removing the male flowering bud after the last banana forms can increase the weight of the developing fruit by roughly 15% or 1/7th.
All banana flowers secrete nectar that collects as a gelatinous blob at the base of the perianth. This is particularly noticeable in some varieties like the Hawaiian 'Huamoa'. It is quite sweet and pleasant, attracting bees and birds.
Seeded Bananas
These wild forms require pollination for fruit development, and upon ripening contain a mass of hard black seeds surrounded by a scanty sweetish pulp covering. Edible cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic, which means they develop edible pulp without pollination. The brown flecks imbedded in the pulp are the abortive, undeveloped seeds.
Varieties
Simmons estimates the total number of banana cultivars in existence at roughly 300.
Bananas Seen in South Florida
'Orinoco' - one of the first introduced into Florida. Probably easiest to grow. Thought the most cold tolerant, seen as far north as Georgia. Observed wild in the Florida Everglades at former Seminole Indian camp sites.
'Ice Cream' - looks, grows and tastes like Orinoco with blueish-white silvery sheen on unripe fruit.
'Cavendish' - most frequently encountered banana in South Florida. Low stature, easy to grow. Grown for export in Canary Islands and Israel for European markets. Also commercial crop in Australia. Tropically-ripened fruit distinctly green in colour.
'Williams' - a mutation of 'Cavendish', larger in size, said to produce heavier bunches without finger-tip (cigar-end) rot. Also known as 'Giant Cavendish) according to Simmons.
'Apple' - tall, tart fruit with thin skin, white flesh. Also known as 'Manzana'.
'Cuban Red' - (Jamaican Red) tall, slow to bear, attractive maroon red-skinned fruit.
'Lady Finger' - 'Sucrier' - 'Datil' - frequently confused with 'Apple' banana whose fruit is much larger.
'Gros Michel' - the standard by which all other bananas are judged as to quality.
'Pisang Raja' - Indonesia, Malaysia - pink fleshed desert banana.
'Kru' - introduced from N. Borneo and presently available in S. Florida.
'Plantains'
'Dwarf Puerto Rican' - our best-adapted plantain to Florida's growing conditions.
'Maiden' - grown in the Bahamas.
'Nkonjwa Nshansha' - which means 'Rhino Horn'. Fruit can reach 1½ ft. in length. There is some dispute as whether or not it is the same as the 'Moongil' plantain?
'Hawaiian Bananas'
70 varieties known to old Hawaiians of the Kona district, Island of Hawaii (Pope). Frequency of occurrence of unusual mutations part of superstitious Ancient Hawaiian's religion? All Hawaiian bananas have pink flesh, and as they are mid-way between a plantain and banana they can be consumed either cooked or raw.
The three general classes of Hawaiian bananas are divided into 'Iholena', 'Maoli' and 'Populu'.
'Huamoa', also known as 'Chicken Egg' or 'Papaya Banana'. This is the largest of the populu varieties with fruit up to seven inches long with a 13½ inch circumference. This type is of medium height with a tapering trunk that takes wind without propping up. The pinkish-yellow pulp is excellent cooked. These large diameter types have a tendency to split and should be harvested prior to full ripening. The 'Huamoa' is an unstable mutation that tends toward smaller fruit but heavier bunches. It is grown commercially in South Florida and available in our supermarket grocery produce departments.
The author introduced this 'Dwarf Puerto Rican' Plantain into Florida in 1950. Low in height with heavy bunches, it does well here. Photo by Wm.F. Whitman
'Aeae' or 'Koae' - This is an extremely ornamental white and green variegated member of the Maoli Hawaiian group. On the Kona Coast of the 'Big Island' of Hawaii it reaches near perfection growing on loose volcanic ash soils. It is an unstable mutation with suckers that come up all green, all white or variegated.
'Haahaa' or 'Haa' - This is a low-growing member of the Iholena division that resembles the Cavendish in size. It has a 6½-foot to 7-foot trunk with fruit that turns yellow a number of days prior to ripening, giving it an ornamental effect. The flesh is eaten fresh or cooked. When fried, it is like apple fritters.
'Maia Hapai' - Pregnant banana. At first we were not sure of its existence, was it real or a myth? According to legend it was reported to develop and bear its fruit completely inside its trunk. Some years went by and inquiries as to its whereabouts failed to come up with anything. Then finally, one day when visiting Hawaii, we obtained suckers reported to be the 'Maiai Hapai' . Upon returning to South Florida about a dozen of the elusive pups (banana suckers) were planted out in a grove. As the pregnant bananas reached maturity it was easy to see by the swellings on the trunks that something unusual was going on. Using machetes the pregnant trunks were sliced open and inside were tightly compressed bunches of unripe bananas. Unfortunately, these never ripened up like an ornamental banana and eventually rotted away inside the trunks.
'Fehi' - While this grows wild in Hawaii it is usually considered to have originally come from Tahiti and the South Seas. From the base of its 17-foot dark-purple trunk it can reach a height of over thirty feet. The fruiting stalk points straight up, unlike a normal banana stalk which bends over and down. The fruit is not eaten raw but must be cooked and forms a staple food source in French Oceania. Much to my surprise I found the fruit, even though cooked, colours the urine a greenish colour and can frighten a newly-arrived visitor. Sap of the Fehi is a red wine colour used as an ink substitute in the South Seas. The plant prefers semi-shade.
Pests
182 Insect pests including 7 mites and 6 eelworms are recorded as attacking bananas. Of these only 5 are significant. These include the banana borer, red spider, caterpillars and nematodes.
Diseases
Panama Disease - A soil fungus that invades the corms of susceptible varieties causing vascular wilt.
Bunchy Top - This has appeared in Australia in the past.
Fungus - Anthracnose - attacks fruit causing cigar end rot.
In addition to those listed above there are many other fungus diseases known to be a problem with this herbaceous plant.
Dooryard Cultivation
Bananas are an ideal fruit for the home owner. They bear at an early age, less than one year, and are in season year around. Bananas require good drainage but will grow on most soils including the limestone rock soils of South Florida. In collecting planting material, large sword suckers are preferred to leafy water suckers. In selecting a planting site, avoid windy locations. A spacing of 12 feet by 12 feet gives 300 plants to the acre.
Try to keep the various varieties from intermingling. Since bananas over a period of time rise up higher in the ground, it is suggested they initially be placed deeper in the ground to allow for this tendency. Fertiliser should be applied frequently and in heavier amounts as the plants become mature. Do not pile these applications next to the trunk. Here in South Florida where the soil (rock) is very porous, put this plant food on top of the ground. Frequent irrigation with a layer of mulch is beneficial. Suckers should be removed leaving a fruiting trunk, another ready to flower and a third just commencing to grow up out of the ground.
If suckers are not taken out, the single plant you started with soon turns into a leafy banana patch, lots of vegetation and no fruit. The rate and vigour of growth of a banana plant in its first three months may set an upper limit on the number and size of the fruit. Some varieties subject to nematodes should be dug up and relocated every so often, leaving behind their high parasitic populations at their former locations.
DATE: May 1997
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
