Banana plants are often seen as wild-looking trees that give off lush jungle vibes in a landscape, but they can also be grown successfully in containers outside or as houseplants inside. The trick is giving them conditions they love (hint: plenty of sun) and choosing the right varieties for your space and climate.The common name “banana plant” is applied to a bunch of different species in the genus Musa, the bananas and plantains. The genus contains some 70 different plants, most of which aren’t edible or just not very pleasant to eat due to their large seeds. A hybrid called Musa × paradisiaca is said to be the parent of most edible banana cultivars.Edible bananas, the result of domestication and selective cultivation by humans, have been around for a long time. Research has indicated that the cultivation of bananas, now one of the most common crops worldwide, began around 7,000 years ago in Southeast Asia. There are now estimated to be well over 1,000 different cultivars out there.
Banana plants are often confused with palms (hence their misnomer “banana palm”), but they actually form part of the order Zingiberales, alongside plants like ginger and Strelitzia (bird-of-paradise, another popular houseplant).
And while they’re usually referred to as “banana trees,” they are classified botanically as herbaceous perennials because they never form a woody stem (aka a trunk) the way a tree does—the “trunks” are actually succulent stalks (pseudostems).Banana “trees” are characterized by their massive foliage, which are quite fragile. In banana trees kept outdoors, the leaves usually look torn and shredded, but this doesn’t bother the plant itself.
Because banana plants die off after blooming but produce plenty of offsets (also known as pups or shoots) before doing so, mature ones that have been left to grow wild will often consist of a bunch of different stems growing together.