THE BANANA PLANT IS ALL LEAVES 
stalk in a different way. Its specialty is leaves. Some¬ 
times these leaves are ten feet long. They have broad 
sheaths where they clasp the stalk of the plant. The 
lower leaves die as the tree grows up, but these sheaths 
stay in place and become parts of the stalk. It is built 
up of them. It is as though the stalk were made up of 
wrappings of one layer of paper after another. As the 
plant grows, these layers of sheaths give a bit and the 
stalk grows larger. 
Thus a banana plant has no trunk such as trees have. 
It has no jointed stems such as grasses have. It is merely 
a paper affair built layer on layer. 
But up through the center of this stalk a channel is left. 
Through this channel, when the time is right, the great 
flower of the plant pushes its way. It appears at the top 
of the plant as big as an ear of corn. It pushes out a 
long neck which bends far over. A bunch of bananas de¬ 
velops on this stem. When these have been ripened the 
plant considers that its work is done and dies. It has 
provided for future generations, however, by sending up 
around its root new shoots that will grow into trees. 
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