HOW BANANAS GROW AND WHAT BANANA PLANTS ARE LIKE

Bananas don’t actually grow on trees—they grow on plants that are officially classified as an herb (not surprisingly, the world’s largest herb). They’re in the same family as lilies, orchids, and palms.

Banana plants grow up to 25 feet high, and their leaves can grow to be 9 feet long and 2 feet wide. Their roots can be hundreds of years old.

Bananas are technically berries.

Banana plants grow not from seeds but from bulbs.

A cluster of bananas is called a hand, and a single banana is called a finger. Each banana hand has about 10 to 20 fingers.

About 75 percent of the weight of a banana is water.

A few varieties of wild bananas include bubblegum pink bananas with fuzzy skins, green-and-white striped bananas with pulp the color of orange sherbet, and bananas that taste like strawberries when they’re cooked.