Banana

 

Characteristics

Cavendish bananas come from a tropical herbaceous plant. It takes about 10 to 15 months for the plant to produce a flower stalk. Cavendish bananas can range in size from 15cm to 30cm and are yellow in colour if ripe. There are two types of banana fruit that exist: cooking bananas and dessert bananas. Cavendish bananas are dessert bananas. This banana grows in large bunches at the top the banana plant. 

 

 

Behaviour

Musa Acuminata (banana) is a berry formed from an ovary of three joined carpels. Bananas reproduce sexually by flower, fruit and seed formation. The offshoots of the plant asexually propagate these banana plants. It will produce fruit in 6-8months time.  

 

 

Predators

There are many animals in Australia that eat bananas. For example ants, flies, parrots, fruit bats, canaries, pigs, horses, rats, mice and humans.

 

Distribution and Abundance

Even though there isn’t much information of the abundance of Cavendish bananas there’s distribution of banana plants worldwide.

 

 

Habitat

Grown in most humid, tropical regions on earth, bananas are the fourth largest crop in the world. They are also the most popular fruit in the United States. Their leaves are also used for a range of things such as cooking materials, plates, seat pads for benches, clothing, fishing line and soles for cheap shoes.

 

Bananas originated from the tropical parts of India, Southeast Asia and northern Australia, and the Portuguese brought them to South America in the early 16th century. Today, banana plants grow in the humid, tropical regions of Australia, Central and South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia where there are high temperatures and rainfall. There are also agricultural devices that allow bananas to be grown in non-tropical places like California.

 

 

Impacts

Banana freckle is a disease that is affecting bananas in the Northern Territory right now (2015). Banana freckle is a disease of banana leaves and fruit which is caused by the fungus Guignardia musae.

 

 

Management

The banana freckle will seriously damage the production of banana plants if it is not eradicated. There are only a few seriously infected areas. The areas called red zones are where banana freckle has been found. Green zones are the areas free of the disease.

The disease cannot be stopped by the use of fungicides even if they are used frequently. It can only be stopped by destroying all affected plants in the six red zones. No bananas from any of the red zones may be moved from the Northern Territory until the disease is eradicated.