is a banana really a herb!?

Question

my science teacher told me the other day that a banana is a herb and not a fruit is this true becasue since year 1 my other teachers have been tellin me it's a fruit:S

Answer 1

No your science teacher is talking nonsence. Tell him or her that a bannana that we eat is a domesticated polyploid of a wild bananna. Wild bannanas are small and do contain large seeds (therefore it is a fruit), but the varieties we eat have multiple copies of their DNA (this is called polyploidy), which gives them large, sterile fruit (therefore no seeds). A herb is technically not a kind of food or nothing like that, but a plant that doesn't contain any woody parts (banana trees don't contain any woody parts so are technically herbs). Go and show off your knowledge! (But remember no one knows everything, even teachers, so don't be too hard on them!)

Answer 2

Is A Banana A Herb

Answer 3

The Banana is an Herb that looks like a tree. This HERB bears a FRUIT that is also called a banana.

In other words: The Yellow crecent shaped thing that we call Bananas is a fruit that grows on an herb

Answer 4

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RE:
is a banana really a herb!?
my science teacher told me the other day that a banana is a herb and not a fruit is this true becasue since year 1 my other teachers have been tellin me it's a fruit:S

Answer 5

I was thinking about this question also, and the answer is:

"Both. A banana (the yellow thing you peel and eat) is undoubtedly a fruit (containing the seeds of the plant: see answer regarding tomatoes), though since commercially grown banana plants are sterile, the seeds are reduced to little specks. However, the banana plant, though it is called a 'banana-tree' in popular usage, is technically regarded as a herbaceous plant (or 'herb'), not a tree, because the stem does not contain true woody tissue."

Answer 6

Bananas are Fruits. But Banana TREES are considered part of the herbaceous (herb) family. because the Tree doesnt have a Woody tissue to its composition. So yer teacher is Partially right.. Bananas are Fruits, but Banana trees are Herbs

Answer 7

Depends on what your teacher means by "banana". If he means the yellow bendy things you eat, then it's a fruit.

I think what he meant was the banana plant. A banana plant, like any other palm tree, is not a tree but a herb. There's no woody trunk and no branches. What appears to be the trunk, is actually the plant's stem surrounded by the merged bases of the leaves that died and fell off.

Answer 8

It's called the banana tree, but it is not a tree. It is a massive herb, which can grow up to 15 metres high. In fact, it is the largest herb in the world......so your teacher is right (of course ;-)

Answer 9

Its a fruit. Biologically speaking, all Angiosperm herbs produce fruits as well (including the grass in your yard), the difference is we can´t eat them or even see them. Not all plants that produce seed bear fruits (i. e. pines).

The Angiosperms (plants that bear fruits) are divided into monocots and dicots. Monocots are almost always non woody, so they're almost allways herbs (herb meaning small non woody plant). Bananas belong to this group, beeing an exception to the herbaceous tendency of monocots (other exceptions are coconuts and bamboo).

Dicots come in a variety of forms, including herb (clovers, for example), and trees (oak, maple, mango etc....)

A fruit is defined as a part of the flower that is modified into a tissue that surrounds the seed (for a variety of purposes) and examples of fruits (botanically speaking) are then: tomato, avocado, coconut, the shell of the peanut, pumpkins, sunflower seeds, corn, cucumber, all pods and many others.

Answer 10

Now I've heard everything. It's a fruit. I've never seen "banana" listed in an herbal. It's neither a seasoning nor a medicinal plant.