Sweet Banana

Sweet Banana (Mawz) is a herbaceous plant of the Musaceae family. It is a fast-growing, evergreen, and perennial plant. Its flowers are yellow. It has a strong and sweet aroma. It blooms year-round. It is cultivated in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for landscaping in private gardens or public parks.

Sweet banana is the largest herbaceous plant in the world. However, it is erroneously considered a tree. The banana corm is a pseudostem formed of leaves and blades. It can grow between two and six m. Sweet banana is a hybrid species of Musa balbisiana and Aduminata. It is native to the humid tropical areas of Asia.

Sweet bananas are grown through partition and separation from the main plant. Upon blooming and fruiting, green leaves fade, and new flowers bloom. Bananas grow together, forming a robust bunch and giving their cultivation site an aesthetically pleasing aspect.

The leaves of sweet bananas grow up to around 2.7 m and have a width of around sixty cm. Winds can cut through banana leaves, making them similar to palm fronds. Hence, bananas shall be cultivated in non-windy areas. Bananas bloom into simple purple, heart-shaped buds bearing pink clusters emanating from the banana corm and growing into the pseudostem. The pink cluster comprises groups of six to fourteen flowers spirally placed upon the cluster.

Sweet bananas can bloom and produce fruit throughout the year since they are native to tropical areas. Sweet bananas are infected by Panama disease, a disease that infects banana roots and is caused by fungus species. However, this disease is not hazardous when sweet bananas are cultivated for landscaping in private gardens or public parks. Being cold-intolerant, sweet bananas are planted in protected areas.