[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"article-detail":3},{"lang":4,"article":5,"alternate":19,"related":24,"latest":33},"en",{"id":6,"slug":7,"title":8,"content":9,"summary":10,"thumbnail":11,"metaDescription":12,"metaKeywords":13,"created":14,"modified":14,"author":15,"authorEn":15,"categoryId":16,"commentCount":17,"thumbnailToContent":18},12809,"banana-rainbow-varieties-zhqd","Bananas Come in Every Color of the Rainbow","\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Feeling a little green today? You are not alone — \"banana anxiety\" became a viral meme after the long holiday, when Chinese office workers compared their stress to a bunch of bananas turning from green to yellow. The internet promptly turned it into a fashion item: a bunch of green bananas sitting on your desk, slowly ripening while you wait for your life to sweeten up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">But here is the part the meme never tells you: \u003Cstrong>green and yellow are only the default settings.\u003C\u002Fstrong> Bananas come in red, orange, pink, blue, purple and even camouflage. If you work at China's National Botanical Garden, you can show off the entire rainbow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>\"Banana\" is not one species. It is a family.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">In botanical terms, bananas (\u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi> hybrids and cultivars) are not a single species but a jumble of hybrid crosses and cultivated varieties that are notoriously hard to identify. They are mostly produced by crossing two wild bananas — \u003Ci>M. acuminata\u003C\u002Fi> (A genome) and \u003Ci>M. balbisiana\u003C\u002Fi> (B genome) — in various intra- and interspecific combinations. Both belong to the banana family Musaceae and the genus \u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002Fba1587bea844461c8b445caeb0dab62a.webp\" alt=\"img_01.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Here is a strange fact: although a banana plant can reach 10 meters tall, \u003Cstrong>it is still an herb, not a tree\u003C\u002Fstrong>. The reason is that its \"trunk\" is a pseudostem — a stack of tightly wrapped leaf sheaths that never woodifies. The real stem stays underground. See the difference in the illustration above.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The fruit of this giant herb feeds people in more than 100 countries as a staple crop, and nearly 190 countries eat it as a fruit. You can buy some member of the \u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi> family in almost every country on Earth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>1. \"Red\" — the Red Dacca\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The Red Dacca banana (\u003Ci>M. acuminata\u003C\u002Fi> 'Red Dacca') is the classic representative of red bananas. Originating in Malaysia, it is grown across tropical and subtropical China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan). It is a triploid cultivar (3n, genome type AAA) — naturally seedless, unable to reproduce on its own, and propagated through tissue culture. Compared with the everyday yellow banana, its aroma is stronger, its texture creamier, and its price about two to three times higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002Fc95cb17255764741857ba3bc7822c397.webp\" alt=\"img_02.webp\" i banana with vivid orange fruit, pacific variety_>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>2. \"Orange\" — the Fe'i banana\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Orange bananas are rarer. The Fe'i or cave banana (\u003Ci>M. troglodytarum\u003C\u002Fi>) is a distinctive cultivated banana of the Pacific islands. Its most striking feature: the peel is a vivid orange-yellow, and \u003Cstrong>the fruit always points straight up to the sky\u003C\u002Fstrong> instead of hanging down. The Fe'i banana was once an important staple on Tahiti, roasted in earth ovens or boiled — but as other bananas were introduced and diets shifted toward imported foods, it has become increasingly rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F8099d3065caa423db68fb2176010ee13.webp\" alt=\"img_03.webp\" i banana with vivid orange fruit, pacific variety_>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>3. \"Yellow\" — the Thousand Fingers banana\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The yellow category has countless members; the heavyweight champion is the Thousand Fingers banana (\u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi> 'Thousand Fingers'). One enormous hand of fruit carries more than a thousand finger-sized fruits, so densely packed that the whole bunch hangs like a waterfall. Its fruit ripens from the top down: the bottom fruits are already golden while the tip is still flowering — one single bunch can show every stage at once, and the ornamental period can last more than half a year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F1bac5b315a7640af9d6664533ff27dc9.webp\" alt=\"img_04.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>4. \"Pink\" — the velvet pink banana\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Meet the pink banana (\u003Ci>M. velutina\u003C\u002Fi>), sometimes cheekily nicknamed the \"upward-facing chili pepper\" for its hot-pink bracts. Native to northern India, it is a small perennial herb about 1.5–2 m tall that flowers and fruits within a year of sowing. Unlike the dessert banana, its inflorescence grows upward, which gives the plant its name. The lotus-petal-like pink structures are the bracts; inside them stand rows of small yellow flowers, which develop into fuzzy pink fruit after fertilization.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F84fb60bdf5f64a90830ed254f9fd65f4.webp\" alt=\"img_05.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The fruit skin is densely velvety, and the ripe fruit splits open naturally. The skin may look battered once it bursts, but the flesh is pleasantly tangy-sweet — and after eating the white pulp, you can spit out a pile of huge black seeds like a pea shooter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>5. \"Blue\" — the Blue Java, and its optical illusion\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Ever seen a banana with a built-in matte blue filter? No Photoshop — that is the Blue Java banana (\u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi> 'Blue Java'), also called the Ice Cream Banana, native to Southeast Asia. Here is the surprising part: \u003Cstrong>the blue is not a blue pigment in the peel cells at all. It is structural color\u003C\u002Fstrong> — an optical effect. Unripe fruit wears a thick coat of white wax; light scatters off the wax layer and produces that silvery-blue haze. Wipe the wax off and the peel underneath is ordinary green. Several other Musaceae species share this trick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F17fb08d8210d44c8a6c6b7ee31d74022.webp\" alt=\"img_06.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">When ripe, the Blue Java's flesh is creamy white, soft, and carries a faint vanilla aroma — which is how it earned the \"ice cream banana\" nickname (a nickname most bananas could claim, to be fair).\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>6. \"Purple\" — the wandering banana\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Purple bananas exist too, and they come with a special talent. \u003Ci>M. itinerans\u003C\u002Fi>, widespread in Yunnan and Southeast Asia, shows dark purple staining on its older stems and purplish-green fruit. The species epithet \"itinerans\" (wandering, roaming) reveals its superpower: \u003Cstrong>underground whip-like rhizomes several to tens of meters long that creep outward continuously\u003C\u002Fstrong>, letting one clump quietly spread into a whole colony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F3e4e833c3b3c4a80ae26d56e98efbfdb.webp\" alt=\"img_07.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>7. \"Camouflage\" — the Ae Ae variegated banana\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Is there a banana that wears multiple colors at once? Yes — the variegated banana (\u003Ci>Musa\u003C\u002Fi> × \u003Ci>paradisiaca\u003C\u002Fi> 'Ae Ae'), a highly ornamental cultivar from Hawaii, nicknamed the camouflage banana. Its leaves carry irregular milky-white and dark-green blotches, and the young fruit shows green-and-white stripes that gain a touch of yellow when ripe. The patchwork comes from \u003Cstrong>somatic (body-cell) chimerism\u003C\u002Fstrong>: some cells lose the ability to make chlorophyll, so leaf and fruit surfaces develop irregular white patches. The variegation is unstable — plants easily revert to green — and the cultivar demands strict temperature, humidity and light. When it first went viral a few years ago, a single small plant could cost over a thousand yuan — a true collector's item. The fruit is edible too, tasting close to the Pisang Mas (Lady Finger) banana, but eating it feels almost decadent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F8c72d583001e4be59137a78db9a3116e.webp\" alt=\"img_08.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Beyond these representatives, the Musaceae family holds many more odd and striking groups. China's National Botanical Garden (South Garden) conserves nearly 30 banana-family species in ex-situ collections — including \u003Ci>M. cheesmanii\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>M. nagensium\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>M. sanguinea\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>Ensete glaucum\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>M. aurantiaca\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>M. rubinea\u003C\u002Fi>, \u003Ci>M. acuminata\u003C\u002Fi> and \u003Ci>M. ruiliensis\u003C\u002Fi> — a living treasure trove for public science education and botanical research.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cstrong>Called a \"banana\" but not one: the traveler's tree\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The color battle does not end there. Look at this picture: they look like rotten bananas, don't they? Open one up and the answer appears — it is the traveler's tree (\u003Ci>Ravenala madagascariensis\u003C\u002Fi>), beloved by plant lovers worldwide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Many Chinese readers remember a primary-school textbook essay called \u003Ci>The Traveler's Tree\u003C\u002Fi> that praised this plant's \"magical power\" — supplying thirsty desert travelers with fragrant, refreshing juice. The essay, charming as it is, makes \u003Cstrong>two serious errors: the traveler's tree does not grow in the desert, and it does not ooze drinkable juice.\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">\u003Cimg src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002Fc3d61a09ea0a4b7eb91bbdedd86ac73e.webp\" alt=\"img_09.webp\">\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The traveler's tree is native to the humid tropical monsoon forests of eastern Madagascar, and is cultivated in Guangdong, Yunnan and Hainan in China. Despite the \"banana\" in its common name and its banana-like fruit and leaves, \u003Cstrong>it belongs to the Strelitziaceae (bird-of-paradise) family, not Musaceae\u003C\u002Fstrong> — it is from the genus \u003Ci>Ravenala\u003C\u002Fi>.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The famous \"drinkable juice\" story fails on the details. The leaves of the traveler's tree are arranged in two neat rows like a giant folding fan, and the grooves at the base of each leaf stalk can hold rainwater. The leaf stalks do hold some water — \u003Cstrong>but the water a thirsty traveler would find mostly sits in those grooves, not inside the plant's tissues.\u003C\u002Fstrong> And not every traveler's tree yields clear water when you slash a leaf stalk. Worse, the water pooled in the leaf-stalk gaps forms a miniature aquatic habitat: insects and other small creatures live in it, and lemurs that come to drink may leave something behind. Whether what flows out is truly \"fragrant, refreshing drinking water\" — you be the judge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">The traveler's tree does hide one genuinely stunning natural treasure: \u003Cstrong>a startling Klein-blue seed coat.\u003C\u002Fstrong> The seeds are wrapped in a brilliant blue, torn-looking aril that looks like it was painted with artificial pigment and feels like blue plastic netting. In Madagascar, its pollinator — the lemur — can recognize that vivid blue, which is why the trait persists. In cultivation in China, without lemurs, the traveler's tree flowers normally but almost never sets fruit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Plants use color to build a rainbow \"banana\" world. Next time you see a green bunch on a desk, remember: red, orange, pink, blue, purple and camouflage are all on the family tree — and the blue one is just a wax illusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">When you look closely at fruit under a microscope, the details are even stranger — including a \u003Cstrong>fig fruit specimen\u003C\u002Fstrong> where the whole syconium structure, the special inflorescence that becomes the fruit, is clearly visible. Search \"WWAI\" in your app store and download it today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cdiv class=\"dp-template-card\" style=\"border-radius:8px;box-shadow:0 2px 8px rgba(0,0,0,0.1);margin:10px 0;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;width:100%;\">\n \u003Ca style=\"display:block;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fyun-hub.chat\u002Flink\u002F?app=wwai&clickid=stellarx&dplink=specimenid%3D1020\" target=\"_blank\">\u003Cimg class=\"image_resized\" style=\"display:block;height:auto;max-width:100%;width:100%;\" src=\"\u002Fattachment\u002F20260824\u002F5ba5dd3c38404fe785f43c44423830de.png\" alt=\"5ba5dd3c38404fe785f43c44423830de\">\n  \u003Cbutton style=\"align-items:center;background-color:#1f983e;border-radius:0 0 25px 25px;border-style:none;color:#ffffff;cursor:pointer;display:flex;font-family:Times New Roman;font-size:19px;height:40px;justify-content:center;padding:0;width:100%;\">EXPLORE NOW\u003C\u002Fbutton>\u003C\u002Fa>\n\u003C\u002Fdiv>\n\u003Cp style=\"color:#111;margin:28px 0 8px;\">\u003Cstrong>Related reading\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 20px;\">\u003Ca style=\"color:#111;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fpomelo-low-calorie-fall-fruit-bxwq\">\u003Cimg class=\"image_resized\" style=\"border-radius:8px;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:6px;max-width:520px;width:100%;\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.banyunjuhe.com\u002Fattachment\u002F20261002\u002Fdd4a6aacec8e45a0b60a730b785dc885.webp\" alt=\"Pomelo: The Low-Calorie Fruit That Fills You Up\">\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cbr>\u003Ca style=\"color:#0b6cb0;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fpomelo-low-calorie-fall-fruit-bxwq\">\u003Cstrong>Pomelo: The Low-Calorie Fruit That Fills You Up\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 20px;\">\u003Ca style=\"color:#111;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fpepino-melon-low-calorie\">\u003Cimg class=\"image_resized\" style=\"border-radius:8px;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:6px;max-width:520px;width:100%;\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.banyunjuhe.com\u002Fattachment\u002F20260926\u002F7d70603525c04d6798ec5eb88392dfc8.png\" alt=\"Pepino Melon: The Sweet Low-Calorie Fruit That's 94% Water\">\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cbr>\u003Ca style=\"color:#0b6cb0;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fpepino-melon-low-calorie\">\u003Cstrong>Pepino Melon: The Sweet Low-Calorie Fruit That's 94% Water\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 20px;\">\u003Ca style=\"color:#111;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fwwai-osmanthus-fragrance-science\">\u003Cimg class=\"image_resized\" style=\"border-radius:8px;display:block;height:auto;margin-bottom:6px;max-width:520px;width:100%;\" src=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcdn.banyunjuhe.com\u002Fattachment\u002F20260926\u002F9009b30f53544a8486cf2da753de4c2a.png\" alt=\"Why Does Osmanthus Smell So Sweet? The Science Behind China'…\">\u003C\u002Fa>\u003Cbr>\u003Ca style=\"color:#0b6cb0;text-decoration:none;\" href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fstellarx.tech\u002Farticle\u002Fwwai-osmanthus-fragrance-science\">\u003Cstrong>Why Does Osmanthus Smell So Sweet? The Science Behind China'…\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fa>\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Ch2 style=\"color:#111;font-size:21px;line-height:1.4;margin:28px 0 12px;\">\u003Cstrong>References\u003C\u002Fstrong>\u003C\u002Fh2>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">Flora of China Editorial Committee. Flora of China (Musaceae). Beijing: Science Press.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">FAO. Say hello to Fe'i bananas [EB\u002FOL]. 2016-12-23.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">https:\u002F\u002Fejadagraham.blog\u002F2025\u002F07\u002F01\u002Ffei-bananas-nutritional-powerhouse-for-health\u002F\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp style=\"margin:0 0 18px;\">https:\u002F\u002Fwww.tahitiheritage.pf\u002Ffei-tahiti-banane-plantain-montagne\u002F\u003C\u002Fp>","","\u002Fattachment\u002F20261009\u002F185ace2a899842e6a2a40b601f80dd8e.webp","Bananas come in red, orange, pink, blue, purple and camouflage — \"banana\" is a hybrid family, not one species. 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