I learned that bananas are not fruit, they are herbs.
I beg to differ. Banana trees aren't trees. Bananas however are fruit, according to my sources.
Where did you get your information, Laura?
You are correct Fredericks! I asked my housemate again and she sent me this:
"Ok. So the banana is an herb and a berry. A berry is defined as, many seeds with in a fleshy layer. Diff. varieties have seeds, but the ones that we eat have little no seeds b/c they are triploids (YAY Gentics!!)- they were genetically engineered to have 3 sets of chromosomes which prevents them from undergoing meiosis- the products of which are seeds covered in a fleshy delicious fruit. (Also think of seedless watermelons). This is very taxing for the plant to produce a seedless fruit, which in the case of a banana is actually a berry, b/c ultimately it serves no purpose for the plant to produce a seedless fruit.
The bananas that we eat today were made by a process similar to grafting, except since the banana is herbaceous and has no wood, (the leaves grow around each other in layers.) This makes every banana you've ever eaten an exact genetic clone of the one MOTHER banana plant. How wild is that? Plants are immortal?!?"
