Bananas and Skunk Weed

San Diego Botanical Garden in southern California:

The "flower" with teeny bananas:

Banana grove:



And for those of you with deer and rabbit visitors:

Bananas are incredibly interesting, both as plants and the way they have helped shape international politics. Virtually all the world's grocery store bananas come from a single cultivar, and if I recall correctly, it cannot reproduce on its own. It's one of the biggest crops in the world and is immensely vulnerable. I read a sample of a book about them on Amazon that made me very tempted to buy the whole book.

We grew bananas when I was a kid. They were much smaller and more tart. But they grew in huge bunches. They're a pretty cool and useful plant (even the leaves are very popular in many cuisines, to wrap other food in when steaming or baking).

Pretty pictures you have there. Funny that a mint plant is called a skunk plant. Mints usually smell so good.

Beautiful pictures Sanderson.

Has, Thanks.

Beautiful pictures Sanderson!  It sure makes me want to go there!

Good info Marc.  I read something about the one cultivar awhile back also.  Not good to have just one culivar!

From what I remember (which is iffy), this one cultivar is the basis for all the different bananas today. It's important to keep that one going, because if disease wipes out the plantations, it's back to that one, starting all over again.