A person slipping on a banana peel has been a staple of physical comedy for generations. An American comedy recording from 1910 features a popular character of the time, "Uncle Josh", claiming to describe his own such incident: [151] Banana bacterial wilt (BBW) is a bacterial disease caused by Xanthomonas campestris pv. musacearum. [119] After being originally identified on a close relative of bananas, Ensete ventricosum, in Ethiopia in the 1960s, [120] BBW occurred in Uganda in 2001 affecting all banana cultivars. Since then BBW has been diagnosed in Central and East Africa including the banana growing regions of Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi, and Uganda. [121] Conservation The banana may also have been present in isolated locations elsewhere in the Middle East on the eve of Islam. The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths) beginning in the 9th century. By the 10th century the banana appears in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into North Africa and Muslim Iberia. An article on banana tree cultivation is included in Ibn al-'Awwam's 12th-century agricultural work, Book on Agriculture. [69] During the medieval ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world. [68] In 650, Islamic conquerors brought the banana to Palestine. Today, banana consumption increases significantly in Islamic countries during Ramadan, the month of daylight fasting. [70]

Ouma, J.; Bett, E.; Mbataru, P. Drivers of adoption of Improved Maize varieties in Moist Transitional zone of Eastern Kenya. J. Econ. Sustain. Dev. 2014, 5, 147–156. [ Google Scholar] a b c d Castle, Matt (August 24, 2009). "The Unfortunate Sex Life of the Banana". DamnInteresting.com. Archived from the original on August 11, 2015. Sweet Treats UK product information is provided by the manufacturer, please be aware that the ingredients may change therefore Sweet Treats UK is unable to accept liability for any incorrect information. Peed, Mike (January 10, 2011). "We Have No Bananas: Can Scientists Defeat a Devastating Blight?". The New Yorker. pp.28–34. Archived from the original on January 7, 2011 . Retrieved January 13, 2011.Lentfer, C., ed. (June 2002 – June 2003). Tracing antiquity of banana cultivation in Papua New Guinea (Report). The Australia & Pacific Science Foundation. PBF 02-3. Archived from the original on August 29, 2007. Banana fiber harvested from the pseudostems and leaves of the plant has been used for textiles in Asia since at least the 13th century. Both fruit-bearing and fibrous varieties of the banana plant have been used. [145] In the Japanese system Kijōka-bashōfu, leaves and shoots are cut from the plant periodically to ensure softness. Harvested shoots are first boiled in lye to prepare fibers for yarn-making. These banana shoots produce fibers of varying degrees of softness, yielding yarns and textiles with differing qualities for specific uses. For example, the outermost fibers of the shoots are the coarsest, and are suitable for tablecloths, while the softest innermost fibers are desirable for kimono and kamishimo. This traditional Japanese cloth-making process requires many steps, all performed by hand. [146]

Hyam, R. & Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). Plants and their names: a concise dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p.329. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4. Dan Koeppel (2005). "Can This Fruit Be Saved?". Popular Science. 267 (2): 60–70. Archived from the original on February 22, 2017. Solomon, C (1998). Encyclopedia of Asian Food (Periplused.). Australia: New Holland Publishers. ISBN 978-0-85561-688-5. Archived from the original on June 3, 2008 . Retrieved May 17, 2008. In the Spanish market, the distinction is among plátano, applied to the Cavendish cultivars produced in the Spanish Canary Islands under the protected geographical indication plátano de Canarias, banana, applied to dessert imports from Africa and the Americas, and plátano macho (literally, "male banana"), applied to imports that are to be cooked. [54]Banana" is also a slur aimed at some Asian people, that are said to be "yellow on the outside, white on the inside". [169] Used primarily by East or Southeast Asians for other East/Southeast Asians or Asian Americans who are perceived as assimilated into mainstream American culture. [170] Unicode Generally, modern classifications of banana cultivars follow Simmonds and Shepherd's system. Cultivars are placed in groups based on the number of chromosomes they have and which species they are derived from. Thus the Latundan banana is placed in the AAB Group, showing that it is a triploid derived from both M. acuminata (A) and M. balbisiana (B). For a list of the cultivars classified under this system, see " List of banana cultivars". As reported for 2013, total world exports were 20 million tonnes of bananas and 859,000 tonnes of plantains. [101] Ecuador and the Philippines were the leading exporters with 5.4 and 3.3 million tonnes, respectively, and the Dominican Republic was the leading exporter of plantains with 210,350 tonnes. [101] Developing countries The term "banana" is also used as the common name for the plants that produce the fruit. [3] This can extend to other members of the genus Musa, such as the scarlet banana ( Musa coccinea), the pink banana ( Musa velutina), and the Fe'i bananas. It can also refer to members of the genus Ensete, such as the snow banana ( Ensete glaucum) and the economically important false banana ( Ensete ventricosum). Both genera are in the banana family, Musaceae. Voora, V.; Larrea, C.; Bermudez, S. (2020). Global Market Report: Bananas. State of Sustainability Initiatives (Report).