What? Of course they do!

   Well, erm ... no actually, they don’t. The banana ‘tree’ might look like a tree, but herb would be a far more accurate description - the world’s largest herb, in fact!

   The banana ‘bunch’ grows on a stalk out of the ground. Okay, it’s a pretty big stalk, (growing up to 9 metres in height), but it’s still just a stalk, and is formed out of the lower ends of all the leaves overlapping each other.

   Real trees have woody trunks, and, after bearing fruit, survive for another season, then another, and so-on – year after year. But the banana plant only bears fruit for a single season, then dies. However, it leaves an underground ‘stem’ which grows into a new banana plant the following season.  Phew!!!