Bananas sprout in Rayleigh Garden UK after 15 years

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg8edqq5g5o

by teleforce • 3 days ago

183 138 3 days ago

barbazoo• 3 days ago

He pointed out that Musa Basjoos are not really for eating.
He said: "It's basically like having a mouth full of ball bearings with half a teaspoon of banana on them."

Maybe we can iterate on the texture some more here.

dnemmers• 3 days ago

Prior to human intervention, 'bananas' were small with tons of seeds.

fhdkweig2• 3 days ago

And that intervention was just an accidental discovery. Someone thousands of years ago stumbled onto a freak plant with no seeds and had the foresight to take a cutting of it. Every banana that has ever existed has been a clone of that one plant. Every so often, a new mutation occurs that gives us a new variety, but they all trace back to that one plant. It is the most extreme type of monoculture and is constantly threatened by parasites like the Panama Disease, because if one plant is vulnerable, they all are.

fhdkweig2• 3 days ago

Here is a photo of the seeds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Inside_a_wild-type_banana...

gwerbin3• 3 days ago

Is the flesh soft and sweet like a modern cultivated banana? I wonder how different it is to eat one of those compared to something like a tamarind, which is also mostly seeds, covered in a relatively small amount of edible delicious stuff.

flyingshelf3• 3 days ago

I saw a banana tree with green bananas in Fribourg Switzerland in September 2025. According to Gemini this city is much colder than Essex, and yet.

toasty2282• 3 days ago

According to Gemini this city is much colder than Essex, and yet

And according to science Fribourg offers more growing degree days

https://weatherspark.com/compare/y/45015~56049/Comparison-of...

flyingshelf3• 3 days ago

Huh? Fribourg is literally colder, especially in September.

jefftk• 3 days ago

Only infinitesimally more (most of what that chart is showing is that the growing degree days come earlier in the year), and it also gets colder and has a shorter growing season. I'd expect most plants to like this less.

embedding-shape• 3 days ago

According to Gemini

According to Gemini, lots of untrue things are true.

More useful to look at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/World_Ha... and see if that makes more sense, although seemingly it's changing a bit and that graphic is quite old by now (2012). A plant's survival depends on more than just its hardiness and what zone it's in of course, but it's a useful starting point.

flyingshelf3• 3 days ago

What am I looking at? Switzerland is just a black line mess. The average temperature is lower in Fribourg and you can confirm by looking at actual historical data, which is what Gemini did—correctly.

pvaldes6• 3 days ago

"Could bananas be common in British gardens soon?"

Unlikely

I saw a banana tree with green bananas in Switzerland

1) I believe you. This is not rare. Culturing a banana tree is super easy.

You can easily find one ornamental dwarf banana for your office in Zurich, put it outside in summer and enjoy the sight of the little green bananas. You just need lots of water, a decent sized pot (bananas can produce fruit in pots), some manure and a summer hot. All of this can be found in Switzerland.

Just don't expect fruit.

2) Growing bananas to their harvest time is the impossible part.

Flowers need to mature all winter long, and if they touch just a little chill, commercial banana fruits will stop growing, the stems will wither and collapse to the ground. They need more than 12 months of non-stop warm temperatures to became yellow and tasty. Your banana tree should be treated as an annual herb or kept indoors for many months each year.

But, there are more in this history.

There are around 50 species of banana trees. And lots of hybrids. There are yellow bananas, green bananas, lipstick pink bananas and steel blue bananas.

Some species evolved in mountains of tropical areas. Basically a temperate climate. The trunks that support the fruits can stand much more cold without dying. The problem is that they have small short bluish green bananas that don't worth the effort.

So far, those species are collector oddities or kept for hybridization purposes; but everybody in the field would salivate about breeding a seedless banana of decent quality that stands cold. This creatures are very productive.

gopher_space• 3 days ago

You just need lots of water

They're more like pets in this sense. Really fun plants to have inside though.

Planktonne2• 3 days ago

...while we say goodbye to some old favourites.

An incredibly dystopian way to minimise human-caused climate change and potential extinction for yet more species.

pocksuppet• 3 days ago

Potential? The Holocene Extinction is already the sixth mass extinction in Earth's history, and that's pre-climate-change.

Planktonne2• 3 days ago

I know, but currently we still have rhubarb. The article is extremely blasé about even more species losing their environment.

sinuhe69• 3 days ago

With these heatwaves, many cities in France, Italy and England are at times *hotter* than cities in the tropical SEA! No wonder the bananas are starting to fruit.

roysting2• 3 days ago

He added that growing banana plants in the UK is not new for a "geek in the plant world", but perhaps still niche to the average person.

Also, do you think that it may have something to do with being cities with stone and steel that absorbs and radiates heat, and that cities are no longer as filled with trees due to urbanization and immigration filling them with people?

For context, London, Rome, and Paris have respectively gone from 2.6M, 175K, 1.05M populations to 14.5M, 4.3M, and 12.4M; so basically a 6–25x population size in ~125 years. You don’t think that may have something to do with it?

More context 10 million people produce about 1-1.5 gigawatts of continuous heat energy alone. That’s energy that would also be absorbed into stone structures of European cities even if to an unapparent degree, especially in the summers.

inigyou7• 3 days ago

This is the first time I've seen someone blame immigration for climate change.

simonbarker87• 3 days ago

This is called the urban heat island effect. It’s well studied and well understood.

leoedin• 3 days ago

The population of London isn't much more today than it was in 1930. And the population density is more or less the same too. I think it's unlikely that people's bodies are the cause of heating. Greater London for example would receive about 1572 MW of solar irradiance on a sunny day.

danans• 3 days ago

Seems like an opportunity to plug the latest video by my favorite YouTube long form documentary maker, OTR:

The History of the Banana

https://youtu.be/YVVD1cYelUE?is=ADLXFR_-mIMdDfom

Here gets into ancient innovations that allowed bananas to be grown outside of their native habitat in Papua New Guinea.

If you haven't seen his content, and you get sucked in, then settle in without distractions - this is the opposite end of spectrum of TikTok, etc. Also, don't watch his "History of Sugar" documentary if you are feeling depressed. Instead watch the "History of Curry".

dataviz1000• 3 days ago

If you like this long format style of video, you might enjoy Asianometry, "video essays on business, economics, and history." [0] Here is a video on the banana also, "The Wildly Infectious Banana Plague." [1]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@Asianometry

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OsiD_s00RQ

MPSimmons• 3 days ago

I'll second this. I'm continually impressed with the breadth of coverage from Asianometry. Great channel.

caminanteblanco• 3 days ago

Asianometry is one of the rare gems among youtube channels, along with Alexander the ok [0] and Technology Connections [1]

[0] https://www.youtube.com/@Alexander-the-ok

[1] https://www.youtube.com/technologyconnections

rdedev• 3 days ago

My favorite is the history of chili pepper. It's something so fundamental to indian cuisine that I assumed chillies were native to India for a long time. His video shows the true history of how that spice travelled from the Americas to all over the globe

zulux• 3 days ago

When my Korean friends tell me that my cuisine isn't spicy enough: Well... let's talk about that spice.

pfdietz3• 3 days ago

Have you read Charles C. Mann's book "1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created"? It's all about the global impact of the opening of the New World by the Europeans, and how the global exchange created and is creating the "homogenocene", the age of homogeneity. There's a part about a folk song in the Philippines that lovingly goes over the crops being grown around a village. They're all introduced.

culi8• 3 days ago

Potatoes, tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, pumpkins/zucchinis/most squashes, cassava, the common bean (including pinto, black, kidney, etc), cassava, sunflowers, avocado, etc all didn't exist in European kitchens until the 1500s (and not really widespread until at least the 1600s).

Also, most of these crops were specifically domesticated in the Andes. If you go to the Andes today you can still find traditional potato farmers who take care of hundreds of varieties of potatoes of all different shapes and colors. Some are ornamental, some are edible raw, some are only used in soup, some are even used medicinally

Maybe surprising is that there are no native species of banana to "the New World" despite there being about 100 species and thousands of named cultivars.

pfdietz3• 3 days ago

Sugarcane is also thought to be originally from New Guinea, although it spread widely in prehistory.

kdheiwns• 2 days ago

Didn't expect to see this on HN, but it's definitely one of my favorite YouTube channels. Most food history content online feels like straight up readings from Wikipedia, but OTR does actual research and interviews. The Golden Triangle episode where they interviewed the anti-CCP rebel veteran who was like 90 years old was pretty neat. Doesn't sound like it'd tie into food, but it does.

mytailorisrich• 3 days ago

I have several banana plants in my garden in Southern England. Musa Sikkimensis and Musa Basjoo, 3+m tall at the moment.

Winters are too cold for them here. So either you heavily mulch them and they start from the roots every spring while the stems die in winter. Or you learn how to wrap the stems to protect them over winter.

It might be possible, or borderline to keep them unprotected within London but outside of there and inland temperatures can drop below -5C even in the South.

On the other hand, I think they have started growing tropical fruits like mangos and bananas in Sicily.

ksec• 3 days ago

Um. I wonder if there are any export opportunities for British Bananas ?

kratikanarad• 3 days ago

Lovely

TabTwo• 3 days ago

Last year ours bloomed, too. The problem is that it happens to late in the year and I can’t wrap that 5m high “tree” to protect from the cold. So the bananas were the size of your pinky. Next problem, once they bloom, they die. So yes, climate change is real. For comparison, we are located in south Germany near Stuttgart and we also have a fig tree and an olive tree in our garden.

riffraff2• 3 days ago

Are figs rare in central europe climates?

I live in Hungary and they seem to be relatively widespread, if not as much as in southern Europe.

fransje26• 3 days ago

The climate in Hungary is really not quite the same as in Stuttgart...

comrade1234• 3 days ago

I have a paw paw tree that has survived 7 years in northern Wisconsin. Unfortunately it is the only one out of five that I planted that has survived and so I'll never get fruit because they reproduce sexually and as far as I know the closest one is 4 hours south in Madison.

gus_massa• 3 days ago

There are dating sites for dogs. You may create a dating site for trees.

pvaldes6• 3 days ago

Graft a steam with a different variety and then you will need a lot of flies, or a brush and some artistic strokes in May.

culi8• 3 days ago

Pawpaws are actually hermaphroditic not dioecious. Your tree produces female flowers first and later in the year produces male flowers. This is to prevent self-pollination. However, you can save some male pollen until next year.

Alternatively, you could graft the branch of a pawpaw that flowers earlier to try and get the male and female flowers maturing at the same time. You might also be able to just buy some pollen. It's actually quite easy to collect. You can use a brush to sprinkle it on a female flower

amarant• 3 days ago

Wait would that work? My understanding was that the pollen had to come from a different genome of pawpaw for it to work... But perhaps I'm mistaken?

tremon• 3 days ago

Your tree produces female flowers first and later in the year produces male flowers. This is to prevent self-pollination

How does this work in practice? Do other trees from the same species produce male flowers first, and then female? Logically, if all trees produce female flowers in spring and male flowers in the summer then the species can only survive if the seeds can remain viable unfertilized for months (which is probably not that exceptional for plants, I wouldn't know). But if the female seeds are still viable by the time the plant sprouts its male flowers, exactly how does this prevent self-pollination?

Suppafly• 3 days ago

You can order the trees online.

stasomatic• 2 days ago

That's a predicament. What are you gonna do? What's it doing 4h away from a booty call? That's a bit cruel.

forinti2• 3 days ago

In South America there's a very aggressive spider that lives on the bananas (genus Phoneutria). Spiders usually shy away from humans but these attack and have a very nasty venom. I wonder if the heat will take nasty critters to Europe.

pvaldes6• 3 days ago

Phoneutria are interesting animals. Needed to evolve defenses against the gluttony of monkeys. It must be a tasty spider. It happens that we are monkeys also, so the venom is carefully designed against us.

There is a registered case of a Phoneutria bite in UK at least, and the chef was sent directly to an hospital. To be fair, they dislike the cold so the spider had its reasons to be upset when he opened the fridge to grab a banana.

The spider is easily identified because it has four identical small frontal eyes arranged as a perfect square. Is big, bold and it warns before to attack [1] (most tarantulas are shy). And it jumps, of course. Can hide, once in a blue moon, in exported South American banana bunches (European breed bananas are spider free).

[1] If it raise the legs showing the yellow and black rings beneath is a clear warning saying "get lost right now, of I will land on your face"

whyenot2• 3 days ago

It turns out that Phoneutria defensive bites are most often "dry" with little if any venom. It's thought that the spiders conserve venom for use on actual prey items.

BTW, the four frontal eyes in a box is not considered a good taxonomic character for IDing them, as spiders in other related genera also have this. They do have a warning posture, but not a "dance" that I am aware of. Also, they are terrestrial and hunt on the forest floor. The stories of them "jumping" are largely exaggerated.

forinti2• 3 days ago

The ones I know are completely brown.

They put their four front legs together, two by two, and sort of point at you.

I was told that they are aggressive because they are well fed because they feed on the sap from the bananas whereas most spiders are usually hungry.

GJim• 3 days ago

opened the fridge to grab a banana.

A chef should know better than to keep bananas in a fridge!

anukin• 3 days ago

We grow bananas at our farm in India and we have never seen this spider ever.

culi8• 3 days ago

Brazilian wandering spiders are rarely found outside of northern South America.

culi8• 3 days ago

Reminds me of Cecropia trees which are adapted to use some ant species as self defense. The trees live 20-30 years (the same length as an ant queen) and exudes a protein rich substance to feed the ants called Müllerian bodies. The ants in return aggressively protect the tree.

bromuro• 2 days ago

I grow a plantain orchard in South America and while i need to take double care of such spiders, they are not aggressive at all. I find them super cute and let visit my home as well. :)

DivingForGold• 3 days ago

... Botanist James Wong has appeared on the BBC's A Countryside Summer

Wong, 45, has presented for BBC series' Grow Your Own Drugs and Secrets of Your Food.

Curious what is the latest on genetic improvement of banana against Panama disease ?

PaulRobinson• 3 days ago

The UK straddles the 55th parallel North. Due to the jet streams (and formerly, trade winds) carrying warm air from the Caribbean, it has often benefitted from a milder climate than other regions at similar latitudes: Alaska, Siberia, the Baltic states.

But this is wild. I am only in my 40s but I've seen the climate change significantly and it having a major impact on flora and fauna.

When I was a kid, English wine was a joke and now it's winning prizes because we have the same climate French vineyards did when I was a child. The idea of growing olives in the UK was laughable, but now in the South East of England it's starting to look commercially viable. Only 10 years ago I remember days with highs over 30C being rare, but we just had two weeks of them, accompanied by tropical nights (not dropping below 20C), for the first time I remember.

And now... bananas. Which is, pun intended, utterly bananas.

It feels too late to stop the worst of the damage, but the idea of this accelerating and getting worse is just astonishing to me, that within my lifetime I'd witness such a huge swing in climatology.

fritzo• 3 days ago

Just wait till the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation halts, then you can grow icicles!

ndsipa_pomu• 3 days ago

Hopefully we've got at least 10 years until that happens

modo_mario• 10 hours ago

Isn't the effect a bit overstated (ie european climate would still be somewhat similar to western canada) and wouldn't the UK specifically still benefit a lot from it's ocean climate moderation (less extremes including cold)

riffraff2• 3 days ago

People/companies are already testing avocado, banana, and coffee plantations in Italy at scale. Climate change really is insane.

ebbi• 3 days ago

Slightly off-topic:

When I used to eat banana-flavored things (milkshakes, chocolate bars, etc), I always thought that the flavor was artifically inflated and tasted nothing like an actual banana...

...until I went to Fiji. Externally, the appearance of the banana would probably render it as waste in Western countries as it doesn't look nice and yellow - and looks close to what an overripe/rotten banana looks like, but gosh they tasted amazing!

zakki• 3 days ago

It looks like Javanese call that banana as Gedhang Kluthuk (Stone Banana, direct translation). The owner can use it to make a super delicious Rujak Cingur.

oliyoung• 3 days ago

There were hippo bones found under Trafalgar Square, and once-upon-a-time (10kya) elephants, lions, and rhinos were once endedmic to Britain

stuaxo• 2 days ago

In a couple of years all the head in the sand types will be commenting that "we've always grown bananas in the UK".

alexpotato• 2 days ago

This reminds me of the stone carvings found in Scotland showing grape vines growing there.

In other words, it used to be MUCH warmer in the northern latitudes.

snthpy• 2 days ago

The UK does seem more like a banana republic each year.

Bananas sprout in Rayleigh Garden UK after 15 years

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