Monday, February 23, 2009

Where Bananas Come From

When you see a banana in a cluster, I bet you think it grows hanging down from the point where the bananas are joined to each other. You would be wrong about that. Here is a cluster of bananas hanging from a banana tree. And yes, the stalk hangs from above, and is not supported from under the bananas.
And did you ever wonder about peanuts?

One day it occurred to my kids and I to wonder about peanuts. We knew peanuts grew underground. Peanuts are seeds. All other foods that grow underground are roots or tubers, parts that BELONG underground. How does a SEED grow underground. We asked people. Most of them didn't get the issue. "They grow underground: So?" Well, in order for there to be seeds there has to first be flower, a flower that can be pollinated, and it would be highly unlikely that such a thing could grown on part of a plant that is under the ground. Finally, we looked it up and found out that the peanut flower grows above ground at the top and edge of a bush and once fertilized, the stem arches down and elongates until the developing seed in buried just underground. Now how very weird is THAT?

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Paddle said...
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