this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2025
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Today I Learned

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Banana trees are made up of giant leaves, not a trunk. So they're more like a giant onion instead of a tree.

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[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

And there are also small cute pink self-peeling bananas (Musa velutina)

[–] CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

No such thing as a tree really (genetically speaking), trees are just a bunch of plants that converged on a similar niche but they don't all share a common ancestor (some trees are more closely related to brocoli than other trees), lots of different things evolved into what we now call trees seperately from eachother so a bannana tree is as much a tree as any other tree.

[–] angrystego@lemmy.world 4 points 4 hours ago

That doesn't mean there's no such thing as trees though. It means a tree is a growth form, a life strategy, just like a succulent, a geofyte or an epifyte. It's a group of plants that have a lot in common despite not being related, and they are well defined. And one of the important defining characteristics of a tree is true wood production, which is missing in bananas. The life form of a banana is much more similar to ginger than to any tree.

[–] joyjoy@lemm.ee 114 points 23 hours ago (4 children)
[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 7 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 5 hours ago) (1 children)

they wouldnt accept it quite so easily. their pride would make them devolve into berry cultists, never accepting the truth.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 8 hours ago

Make berries berries again

[–] Usernameblankface@lemmy.world 40 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Blueberry just chilling there in the corner the whole time, secure in their berry-ness

[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 2 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

One of the few that people accidentally named accurately.

[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 25 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

Are we just gonna forget about avocado too?

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 8 points 20 hours ago (1 children)
[–] hopesdead@startrek.website 3 points 19 hours ago

Are all eggplants?

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 9 points 23 hours ago

want some can'tberry juice now

[–] ScoobyDope@lemm.ee 37 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole. Depending on culinary, scientific, or horticulture, nobody agrees on what things are classified as.

[–] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 50 points 1 day ago (4 children)

They are fast-growing plants, with a growth rate of up to 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) per day.[5]

holy shit

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Fun fact: banana tree trunks grow horizontally underground. The above ground part is a leaf bunch that produces exactly one bunch in their lifetime. Which is why farmers cut it down after harvesting, to stimulate the tree to produce new shoots and more nanners.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 3 points 8 hours ago

Now check bamboo

[–] tyler@programming.dev 13 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

So I’ve searched and searched and my wife and I watched a lot of YouTube timelapses and we couldn’t find one that grew that fast. Not saying it isn’t the max, but it’s probably very abnormal

[–] LordTrychon@startrek.website 4 points 9 hours ago

Anecdotal, but I've seen banana plants push out leaves vertically nearly that fast at their peak growth. Each leaf can be close to 6ft long, maybe longer. They shoot straight up out of the top of the plant when they come out, so they do temporarily add that much height.

When the leave gets completely pushed out, it unfolds and leans to the side and in the end only adds a foot or less to the full height.

Not sure if that counts, but they are fun plants to have. I'm in Midwest America... so you don't have to be in a tropical area to grow them, but we do have to cut it down every year and cover it in mulch and leaves to protect it.

Our biggest gets to 16-18ft tall every year. One of it's children we've given away is a bit bigger.

[–] nul9o9@lemmy.world 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I feel like they'd feel pretty warm to the touch if they are growing that fast.

[–] ByteJunk@lemmy.world 5 points 14 hours ago

Well, they do feel warm to the touch, but bananas only grow in warm and humid climates, so everything feels that way.

[–] 9point6@lemmy.world 26 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I kinda feel like heat would be wasted energy that could be used to grow

[–] asdfasdfasdf@lemmy.world 13 points 23 hours ago (1 children)

I feel like bananas would be cold as hell if they were growing that fast.

[–] rockerface@lemm.ee 6 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Absorbing heat from hapless critters that happen to brush a banana leaf to g r o w

[–] dpflug@kbin.earth 3 points 15 hours ago

Fun fact! The farmers rely on this effect to supply supplemental meat in the growing season.

[–] expatriado@lemmy.world 28 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i chopped down a banana tree once, definitely not wood, was like cutting a large celery

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)
[–] CrayonRosary@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

What's a tree?

[–] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

I want to eat the ice cream bananas

[–] Illegalmexicant@lemmy.world 10 points 23 hours ago

I'm going to need a banana for scale.

[–] Peppycito@sh.itjust.works 2 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Since when is an onion a herb?

[–] protist@mander.xyz 6 points 19 hours ago

What they mean is herbaceous, aka leafy and not woody

[–] BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 0 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

No, they are nasty mush wax that should only be used for smells. Ugh, I hate touching them so much. The last time I bit one, I couldn't even chew it. Had to spit it right in the trash.

[–] Duamerthrax@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

No one asked.

[–] qjkxbmwvz@startrek.website 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Not sure if trolling or not, but googling around and it sounds like Sensory Processing Disorders can cause this level of passionate hatred towards bananas...

[–] BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Oh, definitely not trolling. I don't have many other things I have problems with, it's mostly bananas. And mushrooms. And one time I hit a lump in my mashed potatoes and threw up all over the table at a restaurant.

[–] invalidname@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Genuinely made me laugh out loud. Thank you!! 😂

[–] BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Hah, glad to help! It is pretty funny looking back on it, but my family was pretty mortified at the time.