Bananas (or the Musa species), have a long history of cultivation and have even been depicted in Indian cave paintings dating back to 500 and 600 BC. They are thought to have come to India from south-east Asia and to have been carried by traders to east Africa, transported westward to west Africa where the Portuguese took them to the Canary Islands and then to Haiti about the 15th and 16th centuries.
The fore-runners of the modern banana cultivars are thought to be the diploid bananas (bananas with 2 pairs of chromosomes) M. acuminata and M.balbisiana. Both species are seeded inedible varieties. Intra-species and finally inter-species crosses resulting in infertile seedless cultivars were selected by local inhabitants and cultivated giving us the hybrids that we have today. (Robinson, 1996).
Robinson, J.C., 1996 Bananas and Plantains CAB International South Africa
Origami Bananas
Did you know that the long fibres (and I do mean long - up to 5 metres) in bananas are excellent for making paper? Long fibres give paper its strength and the extremely long fibres in the banana plant can make banana fibre paper very strong. Up to 3000 times stronger than regular paper in fact and as a renewable resource and as an adjunct for an already established industry, the prospects are very interesting.
There are talks of building a banana paper factory on the Tablelands near Mareeba utilising the fibre from nearby banana plantations.
The fibre from bananas can also be used to make clothing. Banana fibre clothing is a favourite in countries such as the Philippines although they are yet to catch on here in Australia.
Banana Bandages?
In the Pacific Islands when people get burns they often use a banana leaf as treatment. Banana leaves are obviously a very convenient shape for wrapping around a limb or such, but what is very interesting is that bananas contain a marvellous substance, a surfactant, that has a particularly beneficial affect when it comes to healing burns.
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