My other mate says that bananas are herbs! No way!?

Question

He also said that raspberries aren't berries! Has he lost the plot?

Answer 1

BANANA
Musa acuminata

Contrary to popular belief, bananas aren't grown on trees. They are part of the lily family, a cousin of the orchid, nothing but a very yellow and plump member of the herb family. With stalks 25 feet high, they're the largest plant on Sosaria without a woody stem. Acuminata means long-pointed or tapering, not referring to the fruit, but to the flowers giving birth to the fruit.

Although referred to as banana trees, they are not trees at all but a perennial herb. Its trunk is not a true one, but many leaves tightly wrapped around a single stem which emerges at the top as the fruit-bearing flower stalk. The fruit fingers grow in clumps known as hands, since they resemble the fingers on a hand. The entire stalk, known as a bunch, takes up to a year for the fruit to ripen enough to be harvested. The original stem dies after producing fruit, but sideshoots rise from the same underground corm to produce a new plant to be harvested the following year. The fruit itself is sterile, unable to produce a plant from the miniscule dark seeds within.

Some banana trees continue producing up to one hundred years, although most banana plantations renew their stock every ten to twenty-five years. The tree itself also has uses. The leaves are used as wrappers to steam foods in some cultures. The banana flower is also edible, but if you eat the flower, you obviously won't get any fruit. The banana is a distant cousin to ginger, turmeric, and cardamom, and is botanically classified as a berry. There are over four hundred varieties of bananas with the yellow Cavendish being the most favored.

The only non culinary usage of the banana, that I know of, is that of a hallucinogen - called Bananadine, which is extracted from the white pith lining the peel. Approximately 15lbs of banana needs to be peeled, the peel then baked for a while, and the resulting powder scraped from the inside of the peels.

RASPBERRY
The Raspberry or Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red composite fruit in summer or early autumn. In proper botanical language, it is not a berry at all, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. In raspberry and other species of the subgenus Idaeobatus, the drupelets separate from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit, whereas in blackberry the drupelets stay attached to the core.

It typically grows in forest clearings or fields, particularly where fire or wood-cutting has produced open space for colonization by this opportunistic colonizer of disturbed soil. The raspberry flower can be a major nectar source for honeybees. As a cultivated plant in moist temperate regions, it is easy to grow and has a tendency to spread unless cut back.

Answer 2

bannanas yes herbs
rasberrys dont know

hang on I just googled
The Raspberry or Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus) is a plant that produces a tart, sweet, red composite fruit in summer or early autumn. In proper botanical language, it is not a berry at all, but instead an aggregate fruit of numerous drupelets around a central core. In raspberry and other species of the subgenus Idaeobatus, the drupelets separate from the core when picked, leaving a hollow fruit, whereas in blackberry the drupelets stay attached to the core.

and google says about bannanas

Banana is the common name used for herbaceous plants in the genus Musa, which because of their size and structure, are often mistaken for trees. Bananas are cultivated for their fruit (technically berries, since the plant is a herb) which bear the same name, and to a lesser

Answer 3

He is partly right. Banana plants are perennial herbs, but the bananas themselves ARE indeed fruits. Again, bananas are NOT herbs, they are fruits--it is the banana plant that is the herb. Raspberries are members of the rose family. Each berry is composed of many connecting drupelets (individual sections of fruit, each with its own seed) surrounding a central core. Thus, raspberries ARE berries.

Answer 4

Your other mate is correct.

Bananas are herbs and raspberries are not berries. In fact most fruits commonly referred to as berries aren't.

Answer 5

Try not to use words like weeds or herbs - they are subjectively used by gardeners in different ways but mean 'plants' to botanists.
Same with berries but to a lesser degree.

Incidentally your mate is wrong.

As long as you know the difference between fruit and veg, flowers and buds, trees and grasses - forget about the rest for everyday uses.

Answer 6

Although referred to as banana trees, they are not trees at all but a perennial herb.
so hes right on that one as far as i know raspberries r berries.

Answer 7

He hasn't the lost the plot. Bananas are herbs. Peanuts aren't nuts. Almonds are not nuts either - they are a member of the peach family and garlic is a member of the lilly family ....... who knew?

Answer 8

He's right about the bananas, not sure 'bout the raspberry thing though,not saying he's wrong ,just that i'm not sure.

Answer 9

That's bananas and berry silly hahahaha

Answer 10

yes, bananas are parts of a car, and rasberries is something iused in air crafts.