aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/syllabi/4...lorida.pdf
University of Florida, Jonathan H. Crane and Carlos F. Balerdi, Revised 1998
Bananas are vigorously growing, monocotyledonous herbaceous plants. There are two species of banana, Musa acuminata and M. balbisiana, and most banana cultivars are hybrids of these species. Banana cultivars vary greatly in plant and fruit size, plant morphology, fruit quality, and disease and insect resistance. Most bananas have a sweet flavor when ripe; exceptions to this are cooking bananas and plantains. Plantains are hybrid bananas in which the male flowering axis is either degenerated, lacking, or possesses relicts of male flowers.
Plantains are always cooked before consumption and are higher in starch than bananas. The two groups of plantains, French and Horn, produce fewer fruit per plant than sweet bananas. The groups differ in whether the male parts of the inflorescence are persistent or absent.