# What's that black thread thing in the middle of a Banana called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108 "2012-06-23T23:24:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2012, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/1 "2012-06-23T23:24:39Z")
Been arguing about this for years with my cousin. Sometimes that black stuff in the middle of the banana is just dots and other times it’s a very noticeable hard string. I always argued that it was seeds because of the black dots. Whatever it is, I split the banana in half and remove it, if it’s a solid, hard string. You often find them towards the end of the banana. I found a black string about 2 inches long today in a banana. I’m sure it must have a name. My google fu is failing. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/2 "2012-06-24T06:14:45Z")
It is most likely the placenta and the small parts are the ovule. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/3 "2012-06-24T11:27:25Z")
I don’t know what structure you’re referring to, but the black dots are in fact aborted seeds. Bananas are triploid, so are unable to successfully undergo meiosis. Seed development is therefore halted at an early stage. In wild, diploid ancestral bananas, the “fruit” part is merely a thin layer around a series of ping-pong ball sized seeds. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/4 "2012-06-24T11:31:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I always argued that it was seeds because of the black dots. The black dots aren’t seeds, in that you could plant one and it would grow. Cultivated bananas almost never have seeds in them. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/5 "2012-06-24T11:40:57Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I don’t know what structure you’re referring to, but the black dots are in fact aborted seeds. Bananas are triploid, so are unable to successfully undergo meiosis. Seed development is therefore halted at an early stage. In wild, diploid ancestral bananas, the “fruit” part is merely a thin layer around a series of ping-pong ball sized seeds. I’m going to regret asking, but where do baby banana trees come from if bananas don’t have seeds? How is babby bannana formed? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/6 "2012-06-24T13:03:56Z")
Subdividing the rhizome. (If you’ve grown irises, its like that.) ---
**Author:** ![BowlOfDucks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@BowlOfDucks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BowlOfDucks)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/7 "2012-06-24T13:38:50Z")
Bananas you’re accustomed to aren’t natural bananas. [![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_a_wild-type_banana.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_a_wild-type_banana.jpg) That’s what a wild banana with seeds looks like. Bananas we eat are produced artificially and are sterile. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/8 "2012-06-24T13:43:10Z")
They have “pups” … That’s what one calls the bit that splits off the “mother corm”: [http://www.hardytropicals.org/blog/entry/splitting\_banana\_pups](http://www.hardytropicals.org/blog/entry/splitting_banana_pups) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/9 "2012-06-24T13:45:21Z")
And at risk of going extinct[sup]![/sup], because they are all clones and thus extremely vulnerable to monoculture plague. [sup]![/sup]For the second time! ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/10 "2012-06-24T13:52:26Z")
I didn’t know bananas had corms. The cladistic on Wikipedia doesn’t make them out to be that closely related to daylilies and irises, but that does seem similar. Then again, they’re both monocots, and I’m used to other stuff I plant being eudicots (new word!), so there you go. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/11 "2012-06-24T14:01:14Z")
BTW, watermelons have similar genetics to bananas, in that a cross between diploid and tetraploid individuals produces a sterile seedless triploid. To get seedless watermelons, however, a fresh batch of hybrid seeds is produced, and seedless melons grown from them, rather than continually cloning them. If you like, you can buy packages of seedless watermelon seeds. Seedless fruit, in general: > **[Seedless fruit](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seedless_fruit)** > > A seedless fruit is a fruit developed to possess no mature seeds. Since eating seedless fruits is generally easier and more convenient, they are considered commercially valuable. > Most commercially produced seedless fruits have been developed from plants whose fruits normally contain numerous relatively large hard seeds distributed throughout the flesh of the fruit. > Common varieties of seedless fruits include watermelons, tomatoes, and grapes (such as Termarina rossa). Additionally, there are nu... ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/12 "2012-06-24T15:41:55Z")
Thanks. very interesting ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/13 "2012-06-24T15:50:49Z")
Is the wild banana edible? ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/14 "2012-06-24T16:58:50Z")
> [@tapu](#): > > Is the wild banana edible? Probably, but not worth the trouble due to the enormous seeds. Modern bananas derive from two wild species: > **[Musa balbisiana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_balbisiana)** > > Original native ranges of the ancestors of modern edible bananas. > > Musa balbisiana, also known simply as plantain, is a wild-type species of banana. It is one of the ancestors of modern cultivated bananas, along with Musa acuminata. > It grows lush leaves in clumps with a more upright habit than most cultivated bananas. Flowers grow in inflorescences coloured red to maroon. The fruit are between blue and green. They are considered inedible because of the seeds they contain. > **[Musa acuminata](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_acuminata)** > > See § Subspecies > Original native ranges of the ancestors of modern edible bananas. > > Musa acuminata is a species of banana native to Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are derived from this species, although some are hybrids with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 BCE, it is one of the early examples of domesticated plants. Modern cultivars of the acuminata type are the sweeter “dessert” bananas you typically think of. balbisiana hybrid types are cooking bananas like plantains. > **[List of banana cultivars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_cultivar_groups)** > > The following is a list of banana cultivars and the groups into which they are classified. Almost all modern cultivated varieties (cultivars) of edible bananas and plantains are hybrids and polyploids of two wild, seeded banana species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. Cultivated bananas are almost always seedless (parthenocarpic) and hence sterile, so they are propagated vegetatively (cloned). They are classified into groups according to a genome-based system introduced by Ernest Cheesman, ... The wiki article on acuminata suggests that it may have originally been cultivated for something other than eating the fruit: > [@](#): > > Musa acuminata is one of the earliest plants to be domesticated by humans for agriculture. They were first domesticated in Southeast Asia and surrounding areas (possibly New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and the Philippines) at around 8000 B.C. It has been suggested that M. acuminata may have originally been domesticated for parts other than the fruit. Either for fiber, for construction materials, or for its edible male bud.[19] They were selected early for parthenocarpy and seed sterility in their fruits, a process that might have taken thousands of years. This initially lead to the first ‘human-edible’ banana diploid clones (modern AA cultivars). Diploid clones are still able to produce viable seeds when pollinated by wild species. This resulted in the development of Triploid clones which were conserved for their larger fruit. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/15 "2012-06-24T17:35:20Z")
[Cecil on banana husbandry](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2995/are-bananas-about-to-become-extinct). ---
**Author:** ![tapu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@tapu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tapu)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/16 "2012-06-24T17:41:46Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > Probably, but not worth the trouble due to the enormous seeds. Modern bananas derive from two wild species: > > [Musa balbisiana - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_balbisiana) > [Musa acuminata - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_acuminata) > > Modern cultivars of the acuminata type are the sweeter “dessert” bananas you typically think of. balbisiana hybrid types are cooking bananas like plantains. > > [List of banana cultivars - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_cultivar_groups) > > The wiki article on acuminata suggests that it may have originally been cultivated for something other than eating the fruit: You had me for a while there, but lost me at “male bud.” (haha) Thanks! That was informative and interesting. I’m glad to learn the plantains’ place in it. I’ve always had a vague wondering about bananas and plantains since living in Latin America. Just never looked it up. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2012, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/17 "2012-06-24T17:58:54Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > [Cecil on banana husbandry](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2995/are-bananas-about-to-become-extinct). Don’t be silly. Why would any woman marry a banana? Oh… :o ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/18 "2012-06-25T02:33:58Z")
A while back, I decided to try other banana varieties besides the Cavendish. The only ones available were little yellow and little red varieties. To me they tasted just like the big yellow ones. Are there other sweet bananas (not plantains) that taste different from the usual Cavendish? ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/19 "2012-06-25T05:16:24Z")
> [@BowlOfDucks](#): > > That’s what a wild banana with seeds looks like. Bananas we eat are produced artificially and are sterile. I get to say my favourite thing ever: bananas are GENETICALLY DECREPIT STERILE MUTANTS! ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-that-black-thread-thing-in-the-middle-of-a-banana-called/626108/20 "2012-06-25T06:48:59Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > A while back, I decided to try other banana varieties besides the Cavendish. The only ones available were little yellow and little red varieties. To me they tasted just like the big yellow ones. Are there other sweet bananas (not plantains) **that taste different from the usual Cavendish**? Yes! Please check this photos. The fruits at bottom are all tasty.🙂 [http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/540426](http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/540426)