There are more than 500 varieties of banana in the world.

Banana plants are the largest plants on earth without a woody stem. They are actually giant herbs of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms.

A cluster of bananas is called a hand and consists of 10 to 20 bananas, which are known as fingers.

The word 'banan' is Arabic for finger.

Bananas are one of the few fruits that ripen best off the plant. If left on the plant, the fruit splits open and the pulp has a "cottony" texture and flavor. Even in tropical growing areas, bananas for domestic consumption are cut green and stored in moist shady places to ripen slowly.

As bananas ripen, the starch in the fruit turns to sugar. Therefore, the riper the banana the sweeter it will taste.

In 2001, there were more than 300 banana-related accidents in Britain, most involving people slipping on skins.

Bananas are perennial crops that are grown and harvested year-round. The banana plant does not grow from a seed but rather from a rhizome or bulb. Each fleshy bulb will sprout new shoots year after year.

In Eastern Africa you can buy banana beer. This beer is brewed from bananas.