Did you know that a banana is a berry? And the banana “tree” is


actually the world’s biggest herb. Bunches of bananas grow from it. A bunch is made up of a dozen “hands.” Each hand has twenty “fi ngers,” or bananas. T e bananas do not hang down. T ey grow up toward the sky. People love bananas. Americans eat


more bananas than any other kind of fresh fruit. T e most common banana in the world is called the Cavendish. T ey are all the same. Each one is a perfect clone of another. It sounds strange, but it's true! As the plant grows, smaller shoots


called suckers poke out from the plant’s roots. When bananas are harvested, growers cut down the main plant. T ey leave behind the suckers, which then sprout new bunches of bananas. Each Cavendish banana is the same as the ones that came before.


FAST FACT Cavendish bananas were named after William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire. He received a shipment of banana plants in 1834. It was sent from an island in the Indian Ocean. Cavendish raised more plants in his


greenhouse in England. In time, the Cavendish banana was shipped all over the world.


12 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER


The Big Banana Until the 1950s, the main banana was called the Big Mike. It was wiped out by a fungus that attacked plant roots. Growers tried to kill the fungus


with chemicals. But the fungus spread until there were no more Big Mikes.


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