Plants in Art II (bananas) Flashcards
Book: Where does the word banana come from?
West Africa
Book: What kind of fruit is a banana?
A berry
How does a banana propagate?
Vegetatively, not from a seed.
What 2 things does the corm of a banana produce?
- A main pseudostem
2. A subsidiary corm
How did the flowers of the banana plant become sterile?
Through artificial selection.
How do female banana flowers produce fruit (name of this process)?
By parthenocarpy.
Why are cavendish bananas (the only banana we have) picked green?
Because they bruise easily during transport if yellow.
How are bananas artificially ripened prior to sale? What effect does this have? What would otherwise occur?
Ripened using ethylene (C2H4). Turns them the “electric yellow” colour we associate with bananas, otherwise they’d be more yellow-green.
What is the no. 1 fruit consumed in North America?
The banana.
Where do bananas grow?
Only in the tropics. They tried to grow them in Florida but that didn’t work out.
By combining bananas with ____, you can get every nutrient you need for survival.
Milk.
At what time of year do bananas produce fruit? Why does this make them an ideal crop?
All year round! So duh they’re just a really reliable food source for tropical people.
Where was the banana domesticated? What else was domesticated here?
In Papua New Guinea, also where the pig was domesticated.
How long ago were bananas domesticated? How do we know?
~10 000 years ago. We found banana phytoliths in a really old swamp.
What 2 species of banana (Musa) have long been subject to artificial selection, hybridization, and mutation, in order to get the bananas we have today?
Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana.
What type of banana dominates the North American market?
Cavendish.
What differentiates bananas and plantains?
Bananas: fruits (eaten raw for dessert)
Plantains: vegetables ( gross if not cooked)
What nation has the widest variety of bananas and the most production? How many types do they have? How many million tons/year do they produce?
India, which has 670 types (wild and cultivated) and produces 17 million tons/year.
Which nation is the biggest exporter of bananas? How many million tons/year do they export?
Ecuador, which exports 5 million tons/year.
Why is it considered bad luck to bring bananas on a boat?
No one really knows, it just is (thanks Patrick).
How has the banana appeared in art? Give a few examples?
Any of:
- Andy Warhol album cover
- Giorgio diChivico “The uncertainty of the poet”
- Andy Warhol again only this time it’s a video of him sucking off a banana…
How has the banana appeared in music? Give a few examples.
Any of:
- “Yes, we have no bananas” no. 1 all-time sheet music sales
- Raffi’s “Bananaphone”
- Harry Belafonte’s “Banana Boat” (+muppets)
How has the banana appeared in dance? Give an example.
Carmen Miranda, one of the originators of the samba, apparently did something with dance and bananas idk.
How has the banana appeared in video? Give an example.
“The Lady in the tutti Frutti Hat”…
