Re: Banana 101
Mitchel-I take a stab at your question. The non-seeded bananas that we eat are natural mutations (that do not produce viable seeds) from some seeded species that occured along the way. The bananas and plantains that are grown today are "hybrids" derived from 2 seeded species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. These are give the labels "A" and "B", respectively. The seedlesss bananas and plantains that we enjoy are composed of various combinations of these 2 species. There are groups of bananas that are known as "AA", "AAA", "AAAA", "AB", "AAB", "ABB", "BBB", "AAAB" and a others. Some of the members of these groups are:
AAA-Gran Nain, Cavendish
AAAA-SH 3436
AAB-French Plantains, Mysore, Pisang Raja
ABB-Orinoco, Pelipeta
AAAB-Golfinger (FHIA-1)
BBB-Saba
There is a good description of this in several locations but one I really like is found in "Bananas and Plantain" by J.C.Robinson, published by CAB International in 1996. It also has a lot of really good info about fertilization, irrigation, etc. about bananas. It is in my opinion the best all-around banana growing book out there.
I hope this helps and I am sure our fellow board members will correct any mistakes in my post.
Richard
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