where do bananas come from

Question: where do bananas come from
- Keywords:
  food
Asked by harrison123 to Daniela, Hannah, Ian, Jono, Mark on 19 Jun 2013.
- Jono Bone answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi harrison123 ,
  
  If your asking geographically where they come from ? then the answer is that they are originally from South Asia where they were domesticated.
  But they are now cultivated in Africa, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean islands. So they’ve traveled around a lot.
  
  If your asking what plant they come from ? the answer is they are produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants of the genus Musa. The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant.
  
  BANANA FACTS……
  The banana plant is actually a giant herb, of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms and the banana is actually a berry!!
- Mark Hodson answered on 19 Jun 2013:
  
  Banana trees! A lot of our bananas come from the Canary islands whereas the ones that Americans buy come from the Caribbean.
  
  On the Canaries, at least Tenerife, there are massive plantations of banana trees which are covered in sacking to protect them from getting burnt in the sun. I used to take students on field trips to Tenerife and we’d look at the banana plantations. There were lots of spiders – no where near as friendly as earthworms!
  
  cheers
  
  m
- Hannah Brotherton answered on 20 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi Harrison123,
  Bananas also come from Australia, but I only think of places with bananas as having monkeys. lol. Also, did you know bananas cost around £7 in Australia and when there are huge storms over there (and I mean HUGE storms), most of the bananas get destroyed and become really rare. So rare people will pay loads for them (didn’t know people loved bananas so much :P). After the storm, the price of bananas can go up to £10 +. So next time you go to supermarket, look at how cheap our bananas are. 😀
- Daniela Plana answered on 20 Jun 2013:
  
  Hey harrison123!
  
  As the others have said, bananas grow on trees… unfortunately for us, these plants need quite a lot of heat, so here in the UK they have to be imported from places like the Canary Islands (which although Spanish are actually in Africa!) or Central/South America.
  
  In my home country of Venezuela, we have banana trees growing quite normally everywhere… so you could quite easily see banana trees (as well as many other tasty fruits!) as you walk to school from your house!
  
  Hope that helps!
  Daniela
- Ian Wilson answered on 20 Jun 2013:
  
  Hi harrison123,
  
  As the others have said, bananas grow on trees. Not all bananas are edible though. In fact, even though there are around 1000 types of banana, humans eat just one – the Cavendish. These bananas don’t have seeds (the little black dots inside them are all that’s left of what used to be seeds a LONG time ago). Most seedless bananas actually come from just 2 different species of banana tree – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Both are native to South and Southeast Asia.
  
  Bananas that we can’t eat are eaten by other animals though.
  
  And I’ll leave you with this song about bananas that your teachers will hate me for showing you!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCkerYMffMo
  
  Hope you enjoy it!
  
  Ian

Question: where do bananas come from

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