Plant Profile and Impact Study: Mai'a (Banana)

Plant Identification and Basic Information

• Common Name: Banana
• Scientific Name: Musa paradisiaca
• Status: Native
• Other Local Names
• Hawai'i: Mai'a
• Tonga: Siaine
• Samoa: Fa'i
• Tahiti: Mai'a
• Maori: Maika
• Plant Family: Musaceae

Plant Description

Habitat

Mai'a usually grows in moist areas that are wind protected or planted around dwellings or on well-watered banks of taro lo`i. It can grow on median forest belts from an altitude of 1500 to 3000 ft. and on lower fringes of the forests. Making Hawaii a good spot for them.

Leaves

Mai'a is a giant herb, about 10 - 15 feet tall, with parallel venation on leaves that are about 6 feet long.

Stem

It has an underground stem known as rhizome and its above ground stem is really a pseudostem consisting of tightly appressed leaf sheaths.

Flower

Its flowers are borne on thick, erect or drooping stem issuing from the top of the trunk or center of the leaf cluster. The male flowers are at the tip and the female at the base of the inflorescence, with a large red spathe.

Fruit

The flowers develop into simple fleshy fruits with little or no seeds at all. Generally the banana is seedless(parthenocarpic fruit).

Variety (present in the garden)

Mai’a Manini (Apple Banana)

• Color: The skin of the apple banana is a bright yellow when ripe, often with small brown speckles. The flesh inside is creamy white.
• Length/Size: Apple bananas are shorter and smaller compared to common bananas, typically around 4 to 6 inches in length.
• Texture: The texture is firm but tender when ripe, with a creamier and denser feel than the standard Cavendish banana.
• Sweetness: Apple bananas are notably sweeter, with a distinct tartness that gives them a slightly apple-like flavor, which adds to their unique taste.

Mai’a ‘Iholena (Ice Cream Banana or Blue Java)

• Color: The peel is a pale blue-green, thus the nickname “Blue Java”, when unripe, transitioning to yellow as it ripens, with cleaner or almost spotless skin compared to the Mai’a Manini. The flesh is white to light cream-colored.
• Length/Size: These bananas are medium-sized, typically ranging from 6 to 9 inches in length, slightly larger than Mai’a Manini.
• Texture: The texture is soft and creamy, almost like ice cream when fully ripe, hence its name.
• Sweetness: Ice cream bananas are very sweet, with a mild vanilla-like flavor, which makes them excellent for desserts or smoothies.The leaves of Huamoa are heart-shaped, but with a distinct flat top instead of a rounded curve. They have a vibrant green color and are less lobed compared to other varieties like Piko.

Soil and Cultivation Requirements

• Cultivated bananas do not grow by seeds, but by “suckers.”
• Select and separate a banana “sucker,” or keiki (about 2-4 feet high) from a healthy mother plant.
• Choose an area where plants will be protected from the wind.
• Plant in good quality, rich, dark soil with good drainage.
• Add lots of mulch to help keep the soil around the tree moist.
• Fruit can be expected in about a year, but harvest time will vary based on growing conditions.
• After harvest, cut down the “tree,” allowing keiki plants to grow up to produce more fruit.

Optimizing Yield:

Once the bunch of bananas is established, the flower stalk will continue to bloom and produce male flowers, but no more bananas will form. You can cut the stalk just below the developing bananas. The trick is to cut the purple flower below the stalk off when the small nectar-filled flowers start to fall off. It is nature's indication that the plant has made all the fruit it can support. If the flower isn't taken off once the flowers start to fall, it will steal the nutrients that make the fruit bigger. It is also important to weed around the bananas. To do this, adding hard mulch will help create an ideal environment for bananas to grow healthier as it keeps weeds from growing.

Another method is called Banana Circle. This methods involves planting a group of bananas around a compost. A banana circle incorporates many functions, many products and many benefits. It is basically an island of fertility built around a big compost pile. Bananas are very hungry plants and will thrive off the abundant cycling of organic material as well as the moisture inherent in its design.

Cultural and Historical Significance (for Native Plants, Pilina)

During Liholiho's time, some kinds of banana were kapu to women, death being the penalty for disobedience. There are lots of Hawaiian myth associated with banana. The Hawaiian literature is rich in the use of similes referring to bananas: "his skin was like a ripe banana" or "his beauty returned like the beauty of a young banana leaf". According to a Hawaiian legend: Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, brought the banana to Hawaii, where it was believed that it's bad luck to dream of bananas or to meet a person carrying them and to carry bananas as part of a lunch on a fishing trip. A banana stalk was used in lieu of a human sacrifice. Stalks used to line the imu, as canoe rollers or used as a poultice. Fibers of leaves used in lei making. Sap used as a dye, and nectar from flowers used to feed babies. Understood as a kinolau or bodyform of the god Kanaloa, thus a set of kapu surrounded mai'a plants.

Sources and References

“Banana Circles: Learn Articles.” Orchard of Flavours, www.orchardofflavours.com/banana-circles. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

“Kapiʻolani CC Library Libguides: Ethnobotany of the AHUPUA`A: Food.” Food - Ethnobotany of the Ahupua`a - Kapiʻolani CC Library LibGuides at Kapi’olani Community College, guides.library.kapiolani.hawaii.edu/apdl/ahupuaa/food. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

Bishop Museum - Ethnobotany Database, data.bishopmuseum.org/ethnobotanydb/ethnobotany.php?b=d&ID=maia. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

Kokuahawaiifoundation, kokuahawaiifoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/KHF_HH_EdSheet_Dragonfruit-1.pdf. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.