# Bananas Extinct?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 18, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402 "2003-01-18T03:53:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402/1 "2003-01-18T03:53:12Z")

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Maybe someone can explain this story (see link) about the fate of the banana? It claims the banana is seedless and hasn’t had sex for about ten years! This makes no sense. I’m not sure what they base this claim on??? There ARE tiny seeds are along the centerline of the fruit. And even if truly seedless, I understand such fruit swaps hormones to bear fruit, IIRC. - Jinx

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**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402/2 "2003-01-18T04:02:19Z")

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This is the third thread in GQ today on this.

See [this thread,](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=157015) **Jinx**.

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402/3 "2003-01-18T04:09:04Z")

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Geez, I guess I should say “Yes, we have some bananas…”

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**Author:** ![Blake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bananas-extinct/149402/4 "2003-01-18T06:01:10Z")

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Jinx bananas are a sterile hybrid species, the plant equivalent of a mule. They haven’t sexually reproduced for hundreds or thousands of years, much less 10. Those little black things you sometimes see are seeds, but they have aborted at a very early stage of growth. They could never germinate. The seeds of wild bananas are about 3/4 the size of a peanut.

And no, plants don’t swap hormones to bear fruit. There may be some hormonal synchonisation of flowering, it happens in other plants, but they don’t swap hormones, simply one plant triggers the rest to flower. Even if they did absorb hormones from each other, it wouldn’t make any difference as there is no genetic material in a hormone, it’s just an odour molecule and no more capbale of introducing new genetic material than is human boy odour.