There is a banana plant outside our duplex. This isn't so strange to see in San Diego, however, I don't think I have ever seen one that bears fruit. It is completely fascinating! Here is some intriguing info for all of you who stay up at night wondering how bananas grow.
First get yourself a hot, damp climate with sandy soil and good drainage. Start a crop by cutting growths from the underground stems of mature banana plants. These growths, called suckers, are planted in the ground. (My brother smuggled a sucker with him on a plane after visiting me a month ago.) Three to four weeks later, tightly rolled leaves sprout from the suckers. The leaves unroll as they grow until they look like large drooping feathers. Fully grown leaves are 30 to 61 centimeters wide. (Our land lady cuts off the leaves and uses them to cook with.)
Banana plants are not trees because they don't have a woody trunk. The "trunk" of the banana plant is really the stalks of the leaves. As the leaves grow, they become tightly wrapped in a bundle.
When the plant is 2 months old, a large bud at the end of a thick underground stem grows from the bundle of leaves. The bud has lots of small purple leaves called bracts. (You can see the bracts hanging in the second picture.) After the stem grows through the top of the plant, the bracts roll back, revealing clusters of small flowers. These flowers develop into tiny green bananas (also pictured).
A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.
So get yourself a sucker and you might get a good hand of fingers.
(Pictures were provided by yours truly.)
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