"Of all trees, only banana have a heart."
"Sa lahat ng puno, saging lang ang may puso.
Scientific Name: Musa sapientum
Common Name; Saging, Kela, Platano, Cavendish, Fen ba jiao
According to Wikipedia, banana may have probably originated from the tropics of America especially southern Mexico where it was first cultivated and was later propagated in other tropical and sub-tropical countries in the continents of America, Australia, Africa and Asia. Description: Banana is commonly mistaken as a tree but it is actually a large perennial flowering herb with leaf sheaths that form trunk-like pseudostems that grows from a corm. Banana can grow up to 7 meters in height that has about 8 - 12 spirally arranged leaves that are up to 2.7 meters long and 0.6 meter wide.
The banana fruits develop from the heart, in a hanging cluster made up of tiers (hands), up to 20 fruit to a tier that ripen in 60 to 90 days after the first flower appeared.
Uses
Food: The ripe fruit of banana is used in many ways in the human diet—from simply being peeled and eaten to being sliced and served in fruit cups and salads, sandwiches, custards and gelatins; being mashed and flavored to ice cream, bread, muffins, and cream pies.
Banana puree is used as infant food, flavors to cake, pie, ice cream, cheesecake, doughnuts, milk shakes and many other products. It is also used for canning with applesauce, and is combined with peanut butter as a spread. Banana nectar is prepared from banana puree.
Sliced ripe bananas, canned in syrup are used in frozen tarts, pies, gelatins and other products.
The tree can be used as ornamental plants or for fiber. Banana fibers can be used as natural absorbent, bio – remediation agent for bacteria in natural water purifier, for mushroom production, they are also used in making of handicrafts, quality paper cards, tea bags, string thread, high quality fabric material, paper for currency notes and good rope for tying purpose.
Banana leaves are widely used as plates and for lining cooking pits and for wrapping food for cooking or storage. A section of leaf often serves as an eye-shade. In Latin America, it is a common practice during rains to hold a banana leaf by the petiole, upside-down, over one's back as an "umbrella" or "raincoat". The leaves of the 'Fehi' banana are used for thatching, packing, and cigarette wrappers. The pseudostems have been fastened together as rafts.
In the Philippines, the Pinatubo Negritos cut off a banana plant close to the ground, make a hollow in the top of the stump, which then fills with watery sap drunk as an emergency thirst quencher. Central Americans obtain the sap of the red banana in the same manner and take it as an aphrodisiac. It is also woven into a thin, transparent fabric called "agna" which is the principal material in some regions for women's blouses and men's shirts. It is also used for making handkerchiefs. In Ceylon, it is fashioned into soles for inexpensive shoes and used for floor coverings.
Medicinal Uses: All parts of the banana plant have medicinal applications: the flowers in bronchitis and dysentery and on ulcers; cooked flowers are given to diabetics; the astringent plant sap in cases of hysteria, epilepsy, leprosy, fevers, hemorrhages, acute dysentery and diarrhea, and it is applied on hemorrhoids, insect and other stings and bites; young leaves are placed as poultices on burns and other skin afflictions; the astringent ashes of the unripe peel and of the leaves are taken in dysentery and diarrhea and used for treating malignant ulcers; the roots are administered in digestive disorders, dysentery and other ailments; banana seed mucilage is given in cases of catarrh and diarrhea in India. Antifungal and antibiotic principles are found in the peel and pulp of fully ripe bananas. The antibiotic acts against Mycobacteria. A fungicide in the peel and pulp of green fruits is active against a fungus disease of tomato plants. Norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin are also present in the ripe peel and pulp. The first two elevate blood pressure; serotonin inhibits gastric secretion and stimulates the smooth muscle of the intestines. The young leaves are also used to lower fever, because of its cooling properties.
Banana is a very versatile plant where all of its parts provides its respective health benefits as used in traditional herbal medicine.
Health Benefits from Banana fruit
- Banana being rich in fibers, has long been used as demulcent and laxative to improve bowel movement.
- Banana is used to treat biliousness and heartburn
- Banana is used to promote lymphatic flow and to stimulate the detoxifying functions of the liver.
- Banana is used to prevent scurvy
- Banana is included in diet to help restore health and strength.
- The flour made from green bananas is used for dyspepsia and flatulence.
- Ripe bananas combined with tamarind and salt are used to treat dysentery and diarrhea.
Banana trunk and leaf juice health benefits
- Banana juice is used as an astringent
- Banana juice is used as styptic to control bleeding.
- Banana is used to treat fever
- Banana is used as emmenagogue to help menstrual flow.
- The mucilage of the trunk is used to promote hair growth.
- The juice of the trunk is also used for dysentery and diarrhea
Banana leaves and roots health benefits
- Banana young leaves are used as dressings for skin wounds to treat inflammation.
- Banana leaves are used as a cool application for headaches.
- The powdered roots of banana are used to treat anemia and cachexia
- Banana seeds used to treat inflammation of the mucus membrane of the nose and throat
- The mucilage from tender roots is used to check hemorrhage in genitalia and air passages.
- The sap of the roots are used as enema for diarrhea.
Health Benefits from Banana Flower
- The cooked flowers are used to treat diabetes
- The cooked flowers are also used to treat heart burn
- Sap from the flowers are used to treat earaches
sources: wikipedia; medicalhealthguide
