banananut11

I recently read somewhere that a banana is a nut, and then in a discussion of allergies I brought this up to my co-workers.

They did not believe me, and the entire office is researching whether a banana is a nut. We have established that it is a fruit, a berry, and an herb but it looks that it is doubtful that it is a nut.

With my reputation on the line it looks like bananas.org is my only hope. Can someone help me here and clear up this conundrum?

Abnshrek

Welcome & Happy Nut info Hunting. The Banana Nuts live here...lol. :^)

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I'm a Nannerhead :^)

pmurphy

You've asked a very confusing and complicated question, so lets see if I can get this right.......

Although often referred to as banana trees, they are not trees at all - although they can reach impressive heights - but are instead a perennial herb - often referred to as the world's largest herb. The fact that the banana plant does not contain woody tissue classifies it as a herbaceous plant, or herb. The banana itself contains the seeds of the plant, which sort of makes it a fruit but technically it is a herb.
And even though they are technically a herb, they are most commonly considered to be a fruit since the natural - or wild - bananas have seeds inside them.
The "banana" is a fruit but it grows on a herbaceous plant.
But because the fruit of the banana plant is many seeded and with a fleshy inner layer, it could also technically be called a berry.


Definition of a Berry:
1.small juicy fruit: a small juicy or fleshy fruit. Berries are usually round and may be edible or inedible.
2.fleshy seed-containing fruit: a soft fleshy fruit that contains many seeds.
3.kernel: a seed or kernel, e.g. a coffee bean
* The botanical definition of a berry is a fleshy fruit produced from a single ovary. Grapes and avocados are two common examples. The berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire ovary wall ripens into an edible pericarp (outer layer or shell). They may have one or more carpels. The seeds are usually embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary, but there are some non-fleshy exceptions, such as peppers. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate (a fruit that resembles a berry, whether it actually is a berry or not, can also be called "baccate").
In everyday English, "berry" is a term for any small edible fruit. These "berries" are usually juicy, round or semi-oblong, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, and do not have a stone or pit, although many seeds may be present.
Many berries, such as the tomato, are edible, but others in the same family, such as the fruits of the deadly nightshade (Atropa belladonna) and the fruits of the potato (Solanum tuberosum) are poisonous to humans

Definition of a Nut:
1.hard fruit: the fruit of a plant, especially a tree, with a hard outer shell containing the seed
2.edible kernel: the hard seed of a nut, especially when it is edible
3.hard fruit of some plants: the hard dry one-seeded fruit of various plants, which does not split open to scatter its seed when it is mature
* A nut is a fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, where the hard-shelled fruit does not open to release the seed (indehiscent). In a culinary context, a wide variety of dried seeds are often called nuts, but in a botanical context, only ones that include the indehiscent fruit are considered true nuts.

Clear as mud......?

I honestly do not see anything about the banana that fits the definition of a nut. Can anybody else add, subtract or clarify the above information

redwood33

I believe calling a banana a berry best fits it's morphology. Bananas don't fit any nut descriptions I know of.

Cikas33

They are not nuts....

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Cultivars and species that I have:

Musa basjoo
Musa Dwarf Namwah
Musa Fen Ba Jiao
Musa Ice Cream
Musa Pisang Ceylon
Musa thomsonii
Musa Dwarf Brazilian
Musa 1000 Fingers

cincinnana

Bannana nut bread.....duh!!!!
I read it on the internet .....so it is true......

However ....people that believe that bananas are nuts ........ are nuts...
Conversely people that believe nuts are bananas .........are bananas.

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