8 BULLETIN 55, HAWAII EXPERIMENT STATION 
the Burrow Apple plantain as a variety of the species paradisiaca 
producing seed, a portion of which have been germinated and 
successfullv grown. 
FRUIT 
The fruit of the banana is borne in a bunch consisting of a number 
of clusters called " hands," which are further developments of the 
floral panicle. The hands, bearing 5 to 20 or more bananas arranged 
in two rows, commonly called " fingers," grow separately in spiral ar- 
rangement on the axis of the rachis, called the stem. The bunch is 
the commercial unit where bananas are sold wholesale, and is classed 
as ranging from 6 to 9 hands. Smaller bunches are not readily mar- 
keted. Standard bunches have 9 hands and weigh from 50 to 80 
pounds, varying with the variety and conditions under which pro- 
duced. Cavendish bananas given good culture may average 85 
pounds in w r eight, and rarely 100 pounds per bunch. Large bunches 
of Bluefields often weigh 100 pounds or more, and occasionally 
bunches weighing 150 pounds, with 20 or more hands and over 300 
fruits, have been exhibited. One bunch shown at the Territorial 
Fair of Hawaii, 1924, weighed over 170 pounds. The favorite 
variety of the Hawaiians, Moa, which grows wild in the deep moun- 
tain valleys, often has less than a dozen fruits to the entire bunch. 
Given special care, however, this variety can be made to produce a 
larger number. In Cochin China, the " Lubang " variety (Musa 
corniculata) produces only one fruit which has the appearance of a 
large cucumber. The Lady Finger, a commercial banana of the 
West Indies and now under trial at the station, produces as many as 
300 to 400 fruits to the bunch. The Guindy, said to be the best 
banana of India, often has 1,000 fruits to the bunch (77, p. 181). 
The King of Thousands, a variety of banana of the Malay Archi- 
pelago, is said to produce bunches of great size. A bunch measuring 
7 feet long and bearing 2,000 fruits was produced in a Singapore 
garden in 1911 (0, p. 452). 
The fruit develops in 60 to 80 days after the inflorescence has 
pushed out of the crown of the trunk. Fruit development, like the 
growth of the rest of the plant, may be greatly retarded by adverse 
conditions. Individual fruits of the edible banana vary greatly in 
size, shape, color, and flavor, according to the variety and cultural 
conditions. 
The general description of the fruit of the seedless banana is as fol- 
lows : Weight, 2 to 16 ounces; length, 1 to 18 inches; shape, elon- 
gated, cylindrical, sometimes angular, somewhat curved; skin, thin 
and tender to tough and leathery; color of skin, yellow or red at 
maturity, and in some varieties, green when ripe; pulp, yellow, pink, 
salmon, or white in color, soft to firm in consistency; flavor, usually 
pleasing when the fruit is ripe. 5 
COMPOSITION AND FOOD VALUE 
The composition and food value of the banana are of interest to 
the grower and to the consumer. From the composition the grower 
B The fruit should be studied first while it is 1 green but at full size, and later when it 
fully ripens. 
