A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas known as fingers.

Sweet-banana skins are most commonly yellow, but can also be red, pink, purple, green, and even blue.

While all banana leaves are large, the leaves of the Musa ingens banana put other varieties to shame, reaching lengths of 16 feet (5 meters) and widths of 39 inches (1 meter).

Generally, it is agreed that bananas originated in Southeast Asia and the South Pacific around 8000 to 5000 BC. Bananas are believed to have been the world's first cultivated fruit.

In 327 BC, when Alexander the Great and his army invaded India, he discovered banana crops in the Indian Valleys. After tasting this unusual fruit for the first time, he introduced his new discovery to the Western world.

A medium-sized banana contains 422 mg (12% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance) of potassium, which aids in maintaining nerve and muscle function during workouts.

There are over 1,000 different varieties of bananas growing around the world. Some are sweet. Others, like plantains (or cooking bananas), can be prepared like vegetables. Still other varieties look very attractive but are not edible.

Bananas develop from a flower with one single ovary, have a soft and sweet middle and contain one or more seeds. Therefore, botanically speaking, they fulfill all the requirements to be classified as berries.

Even though banana plants can grow up to 30 feet in height, they're not technically trees: their stems are sturdy, but contain no woody tissue. They aren't trunks, but rather "pseudostems" made of densely packed leaves. So a banana plant is actually a perennial herb, like a lily or an orchid.

India is the largest banana producer in the world with approximately 30 tons annually. China comes in second with 13.5 tons.