<P> The banana is an edible fruit--botanically a berry--produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa . In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called plantains, in contrast to dessert bananas . The fruit is variable in size, color, and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a rind, which may be green, yellow, red, purple, or brown when ripe . The fruits grow in clusters hanging from the top of the plant . Almost all modern edible parthenocarpic (seedless) bananas come from two wild species--Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana . The scientific names of most cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata, Musa balbisiana, and Musa × paradisiaca for the hybrid Musa acuminata × M. balbisiana, depending on their genomic constitution . The old scientific name Musa sapientum is no longer used . </P> <P> Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia, and are likely to have been first domesticated in Papua New Guinea . They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to a lesser extent to make fiber, banana wine, and banana beer and as ornamental plants . The world's largest producers of bananas in 2016 were India and China, which together accounted for 28% of total production . </P>

Is a bannana a fruit or a herb