Banana

Musa acuminata is a large herbaceous perennial native to Southeast Asia, India and Indonesia, reaching twelve to twenty feet. What looks like a trunk is a pseudostem formed from overlapping leaf sheaths, carrying leaves six to ten feet long. Cream to yellow flowers emerge horizontally from the pseudostem on mature plants, followed by the familiar fruit.

Each pseudostem flowers once, fruits and then dies, with the plant continuing from suckers at the base — so cutting out the spent stem after harvest is part of normal management rather than a rescue. Almost all edible dessert bananas derive from this species, and commercial cultivars are bred seedless.