Banana fruit

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Banana fruit

***** Location: Kenya, other countries
***** Season: Non-seasonal Topic (see below)
***** Category: Plant

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Explanation

Bananas exist all year round here in Kenya, both as green and ripe bananas.

Partrick Wafula




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24th July 2006 -
Banana Information Service goes live

Kenya's first large-scale voice information line to support rural farmers went live today. The service supports banana growers at all stages, from first deciding whether to grow bananas, through to planting, maintenance, harvesting and pest control.
©　www.llsti.org

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Banana is the common name used for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa, and is also the name given to the fruit of these plants. They are native to the tropical region of Southeast Asia, the Malay Archipelago, and Australia. Today, they are cultivated throughout the Tropics.

Banana plants are of the family Musaceae. They are cultivated primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent for the production of fibre and as ornamental plants. Because of their size and structure, banana plants are often mistaken for trees. The main or upright growth is called a pseudostem, which for some species can obtain a height of up to 2–8 m, with leaves of up to 3.5 m in length. Each pseudostem produces a single bunch of bananas, before dying and being replaced by a new pseudostem.

The banana fruit grow in hanging clusters, with up to 20 fruit to a tier (called a hand), and 3-20 tiers to a bunch. The total of the hanging clusters is known as a bunch, or commercially as a "banana stem", and can weigh from 30–50 kg. The fruit averages 125 g, of which approximately 75% is water and 25% dry matter content.

Each individual fruit (known as a banana or 'finger') has a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with a fleshy edible inner portion. Typically the fruit has numerous strings (called 'phloem bundles') which run between the skin and the edible portion of the banana, and which are commonly removed individually after the skin is removed. Bananas are a valuable source of Vitamin A, Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, and potassium.

Bananas are grown in 132 countries worldwide, more than any other fruit crop.

©　Read more in the WIKIPEDIA !

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Worldwide use

Hawaii

Banana is a year round fruit.

banana belt
best place
on the Kona Coast

shanna moore, Hawaii

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Japan

Banana, banana バナナ banana fruit
kigo for all summer 　

..... mibashoo 甘蕉（みばしょう）

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Bashoo named himself after a Japanese banana tree !!!



Matsuo Basho　松尾芭蕉

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Cloth from banana fibers, bashoofu 芭蕉布
This is a traditional cloth from Okinawa.
bashofu, a fabric woven from the banana-like basho plant

The plant from which it gets its name grows wild in the hills, and the specific fiber used for weaving is called ito-basho. When the trunk of the basho plant reaches two meters, after about two years, it is cut down and fibers are taken from the trunk. The fibers are washed and boiled in water for several cycles before the weaving begins. Coloring from natural dyes is obtained from other plants. It takes about two months from the cutting down of the basho plant to finish the fabric.

After the war, the bashofu industry was all but ruined because of a shortage of the plants and the complexity of the weaving method. But Mrs. Toshiko Taira and fellow residents of Kijoka realized the significance of preserving the traditional textile-making that was handed down from generation to generation. So the women planted basho plants and revived the textilemaking activity. As a result of their efforts, the activity was designated an Intangible National Treasure in 1972.
The women of Kijoka contributed greatly to advertising the quality of a traditional Okinawan textile.
©　www.okinawatimes.co.jp





. . bashoofu 芭蕉布（ばしょうふ） "banana fiber cloth"
humanity kigo for all summer


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. bashoo 芭蕉 (ばしょう) plantain, banana plant 　
Musa paradisiaca
This plant is best liked for its large leaves.


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Trinidad and Tobago

banana is also a year round fruit in Trinidad and Tobago

gillena cox


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Things found on the way


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HAIKU

vibrant bananas
keenly watching at you
as you pass by

hawkers allover
kiondos full of bananas
on their backs

kiondos--- baskets


Gladys Kathini, Nairobi


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. . . . . INDIA

In India this fruit is native to all watery areas, even in some hills. In South India they prefer to call it plantain, banana elsewhere, the same thing.
While raw - unripe fruit- is cooked as vegatable, the ripe ones are taken as fruit and it is very common in every household. Different types of bananas with different names are produced in India. It has many health giving qualities too in it.


A monkey snatches
a bunch of banana and eats-
sitting on a parapet.

© Aju Mukhopadhyay, India, 2007



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Related words

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