banana family

American  

noun

1. the plant family Musaceae, characterized by large treelike herbaceous plants of tropical regions, having a trunk formed by spiraling leaf sheaths, and bearing large leaves, flower clusters above leathery red-to-purple bracts, and fleshy fruit in clusters, including the banana and plantain.

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Example Sentences

And the banana family tree as a whole is even more diverse, and mysterious, than previously thought, according to a study published earlier this month in the journal Frontiers in Plant Science.

From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2022

To do this, though, the banana family tree must be clearer.

From New York Times • Oct. 17, 2022

Wedges of kocho, made with the grated and fermented root of the enset plant, a member of the banana family, accompanied the raw beef and served as a starchy alternate to the scrolls of injera.

From Washington Post • Aug. 22, 2022

He's quick to point out that though the gene is added to his super-bananas, it's no new gene to the banana family.

From Scientific American • Jul. 1, 2014

Strelitzia, strel-it′si-a, n. a genus of South African plants of the banana family, with large showy flowers—Strelitzia Regin�, also Queen-plant, Bird-of-Paradise flower—with fine orange and purple flowers.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 4 of 4: S-Z and supplements) by Various