Banana

It was Honduras that inspired the writer O. Henry to coin the term “banana republic”.

A giant, tree-like perennial whose “trunk” is made of rolled leaf sheaths and whose enormous leaves can reach several metres in length. Each plant fruits only once, producing a single bunch made up of a dozen or more “hands”, after which it is replaced by suckers from the rhizome. The Cavendish-group cultivars grown on export plantations are seedless, vegetatively propagated triploids. Honduras is home to one of the world’s most important banana breeding centres (FHIA in La Lima).

Significance in the country

From the late 19th century American fruit companies set up vast plantations on Honduras’s Caribbean lowlands and built ports and railways, wielding influence over the country’s politics. Bananas remain an important export, although Hurricane Mitch destroyed most of the plantations in 1998.

Where it grows

The Caribbean lowlands: the Sula valley (Cortés, around San Pedro Sula and La Lima), the Atlántida coast (Tela, La Ceiba) and the Aguán valleys in Colón and Yoro.

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