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Botanical Family · Zingiberales

Musaceae

Banana family

6 speciesOrder Zingiberales6+ well-known plants

Giant monocot herbs with pseudostems formed from overlapping leaf bases. Inflorescence a large pendulous spike with coloured bracts. Includes banana and plantain.

Browse all 6 species ↓
Representative MUSACEAE specimen
Representative specimen · Musaceae
Key pattern

Giant herbs built from a pseudostem of tightly overlapping leaf-base sheaths rather than true woody stem tissue; a large pendulous flower spike opens beneath waxy, often purple-red bracts, each sheltering a row of flowers that ripen into a cluster of fruit.

The 'trunk' is not wood at all — it is entirely made of rolled, overlapping leaf bases, and the whole pseudostem dies back to the underground rhizome after fruiting just once.

Identify the species

Which Musaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Musaceae species.

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HabitWhat is the plant's growth habit?
Clump-forming banana
Solitary non-suckering banana relative
Tree

How to recognise the Musaceae family

  • 01

    Leaf arrangement: spiral

  • 02

    Leaf type: large entire

  • 03

    Growth forms: herb/tree-like

  • 04

    Inflorescence: large terminal spike with bracts

  • 05

    Fruit: berry (banana)

Notable members

Snow BananaEnsete glaucumRock BananaEnsete superbumWild BananaMusa acuminataFlowering BananaMusa ornataPlankton, Banana, Kadali, PlantainMusa paradisiacaBanana, Kadali, PlantainMusa rosacea

All 6 species in MUSACEAE

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