Do Bananas Grow on Trees or Plants?
Often people refer to "banana trees"--but do bananas grow on trees or do they grow on plants? Is there a difference between a tree and a plant? Does this Spark an idea?
Other People Are Reading
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What Is a Plant
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An herbaceous plant has a fleshy stem that is usually soft and supple. Annual plants only live one season, while perennial plants live two or more years.
What Is a Tree
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A tree is a perennial with an upright woody trunk. Mature limbs are woody and stiffer than herbaceous plants.
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What Is a Banana
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Bananas are herbaceous perennials with fleshy stalks called pseudostems. Layers of leaf material overlap to form the stalk, which looks like a tree trunk.
How Do Bananas Grow
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The true stem of the banana plant grows from an underground corm (a mass of scales and stem tissue) up through the middle of the stalk and produces a cluster of flowers. The flowers then develop into a bunch of bananas. The stalk dies after flowering and fruiting.
Fun Facts
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A banana plant needs 10 to 15 months of frost-free weather to produce bananas. Banana plants slow down their rate of growth at temperatures above 80 degrees F and stop completely at temperatures above 100 degrees, as well as below 50 to 55 degrees.
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