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Banana

(Science: botany) a perennial herbaceous plant of almost treelike size (musa sapientum); also, its edible fruit. See musa.

The banana has a soft, herbaceous stalk, with leaves of great length and breadth. The flowers grow in bunches, covered with a sheath of a green or purple colour; the fruit is five or six inches long, and over an inch in diameter; the pulp is soft, and of a luscious taste, and is eaten either raw or cooked. This plant is a native of tropical countries, and furnishes an important article of food. Banana bird, a small bird of tropical America, of the genus Certhiola, allied to the creepers.

Origin: sp. Banana, name of the fruit.