So, If all fruits have seeds, what is a banana?

Question

I should have mentioned that i don't eat banana's, and that I thought they were seedless.

Answer 1

Bananas have tiny seeds

Answer 2

Actually the bananas that we buy in the store are in fact seedless. They have been bred to be seedless; the wild ones have seeds.

"Cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic (with sterile fruit), while wild
bananas did have seeds."

Think of a watermelon: you have seedless varieties too, the result of plant breeding. IN the bananas we buy the seeds have been reduced to tiny specks (try looking really hard.)

Bananas are cultivated from underground stems of the plant, so you don't need the seeds to propagate the crop.

A banana is still a fruit even though it doesn't have seeds that you can see, because wild bananas have seeds. By definition a fruit is the part of the plant that contains the seeds.

Answer 3

You've probably noticed that bananas have many small seeds. Commercial bananas--the ones you can buy at the market--do not produce viable seed (which means that you cannot grow banana plants from this seed). All of the little flecks of seed that you can see in bananas are seeds that didn't develop. Actually, you wouldn't want to unknowingly find a seed in a banana--they're quite hard and about the size of a pea.

Most banana plants that produce edible fruit are propagated by planting a rhizome or a sucker taken from a mature plant. This is then grown into a new banana plant.

Answer 4

Well I have never seen seeds in a banana. This is what I found on the web.




The banana is not a tree but a high herb that can attain up to 15 metres of height. It is a perennial plant that replaces itself. Bananas do not grow from a seed but from a bulb or rizhome. The time between planting a banana plant and the harvest of the banana bunch goes from 9 to 12 months. The flower appears in the sixth or seventh month. Bananas are available all year long.

Answer 5

The wild banana trees do have viable seeds within the fruit - pea-like and hard. However, the commercial banana has been bred to have only minimal seeds - the black flecks in the centre - better for eating the growers decided. Further commercial bananas are grown by taking cuttings from an existing banana plant.
So bananas are a fruit, even though the commercial fruit is sterile and has no real seeds.

Answer 6

Banana's do have seeds normally. There are hundreds of varieties which contain seed but the ones we get in the supermarket are a seedless variety.
Check some of the other varieties.
http://www.theworldwidegourmet.com/fruits/banana/varieties.htm

Answer 7

Most bananas which are bought for consumption are "seedless" varieties, with the brown pulpy centre being the vestiges of them. Wild bananas retain seeds, and the centre of them may be predominantly seed (not too nice to eat I would imagine). The banana plant is a herb and bananas are technically berries.

Note for DozRDan (below): -

"If all fruits have seeds, what does that make a tomato?"

A Fruit!

Answer 8

Banana Plant Seeds are available!
http://www.seedman.com/banana.htm
http://natureproducts.net/Forest_Products/Bananas/Musa_acuminata.html
Judging from the sales of this delicious, creamy fruit, bananas are loved by people all over the world. In this list we've compiled some of the best banana varieties and collected seeds from all over the world so that you too can enjoy growing them.
If you'd like a nice assortment of Banana plant seeds, along with great information on how to raise them, our Banana Seed Kit shown directly below is a great way to get started.
This site can be found at: http://www.boldweb.com/greenweb/banana.html

Answer 9

A banana is a fruit and it does have seeds -- those are the tiny brown dots in the center of the banana. The interesting thing about bananas, though, is that although they have seeds, they don't propagate that way, and you can't start a new banana tree by planting a banana. You have to start them from a cutting.

Answer 10

Yes, they are a fruit, in a way like the fruit of the world. The skin represents the wall of karma dat we must overcome in order to reach nirvana- the soft yellow flesh represents the beings of the seven realms, from hungry ghosts to high gods. They will never surive a trip past the wall of karma- either they rot completely, or dey are digested in the gut. Some will even become liquor and be used to make cocktail. Only the black seeds in the centre can carry on the life of the banana past the karma skin, and these in a way, are like the budduh :)


Tomatos have seeds! What is that guy thinking? Perhaps, rather than fruit, he is simply a nut.

Answer 11

Banana is a fruit and it has seeds. There is a type of banana grown in Asia with seeds as big as the papaya seed.