The banana is an essential to Pacific island life. Although it is said to have originated in India, it is at the heart of myth and stories world-wide. Some say this plant grew in the garden of Eden. It is believed to be bad luck to dream of bananas , to meet someone who carries them, or to bring them on a fishing trip. Some similes speak of a person's skin being like a ripe banana or of a person being as beautiful as a young banana leaf.
Many tales regard the banana plant as a person.
There are more than 50 varieties of Musa paradisiaca . Descendants of the early plants are now growing wild in protected valleys, stream gullies and mountain slopes. This common edible fruit native to the tropics ripens all year. Diseases and pests are rare. Bananas are not really a tree, but are a gigantic herb, being a member of the grass family, like wheat, rye and barley.