Plantain tree vs banana tree: differences in fruit, plant, and care

Plantains and bananas are the same kind of plant. Both are giant herbs in the genus Musa, and most cultivars of each are hybrids of two wild species. The difference is the fruit. Plantains are higher in starch than sweet bananas and always cooked before eating. Dessert bananas are sweet when ripe and eaten raw. Plantain plants also tend to bear fewer fruits per plant. Neither is a true tree. The trunk is a pseudostem made of packed layers of leaf sheaths. Both need warm, frost-free weather to fruit.

Which should you grow? If you want fruit to eat fresh, plant a dessert banana. If you cook Latin American, African, or Caribbean dishes, a plantain gives you fried, baked, or grilled sides. Care is the same for both, so see how to grow a banana tree and banana tree care. Outside Zones 10 and 11, grow either one in a container you can move indoors.

Overview of the plantain tree vs banana tree

Both plantain and banana plants belong to the genus Musa in the banana family, Musaceae. University of Florida IFAS Extension says there are two banana species behind the crops we eat, and most cultivars are hybrids of them:

• Musa acuminata
• Musa balbisiana
• Musa × paradisiaca (hybrid of Musa acuminata × Musa balbisiana).

Plantains are not a separate species. UF/IFAS describes them as hybrid bananas whose male flowers are reduced, missing, or present only as relics. NC State Extension lists the edible banana, sold as French plantain, as a sterile hybrid of M. acuminata and M. balbisiana.

Plantains are always cooked before eating and are higher in starch than bananas. There are two groups, French and Horn, and both produce fewer fruits per plant than sweet bananas. The groups differ in whether the male part of the flower stalk persists or drops away.

In the kitchen, bananas are eaten fresh and used in salads, desserts, breads, and candy. Plantains are baked, fried, or grilled. UF/IFAS notes that plantains have about the same nutrition as eating bananas plus vitamin A, and they are an excellent source of starch.

Plantain plant: Physical characteristics

A plantain plant looks like any large banana. NC State Extension describes the edible banana as fast-growing and suckering, with large 8-foot leaves and yellow flowers set off by lavender bracts. The clearest difference shows on the flower stalk. In plantains, the male flowers may be missing or much reduced, per UF/IFAS.

Banana plant: Physical characteristics

NC State Extension says Musa acuminata grows fast to about 20 feet tall, with paddle-shaped leaves 6 to 10 feet long. Many ornamental bananas sold at nurseries belong to this species, and ‘Cavendish’ is the familiar grocery-store type.

According to UF/IFAS, the trunk is a pseudostem formed by packed layers of leaf sheaths, rising from an underground rhizome. The whole clump is called a mat. One pseudostem may produce over 40 leaves in its life. The flower stalk emerges from the center 10 to 15 months after planting. Female flowers come first and develop into hands of seedless fruit without pollination, and male flowers follow.

How plantains and bananas grow

Plantains and bananas share the same needs. UF/IFAS reports that shoot growth is best at 78 to 82°F, slows below 60°F, and stops at 50°F. Temperatures below 28°F may kill plants to the ground, though new growth often sprouts from the rhizome when warm weather returns.

NC State lists bananas as hardy in USDA Zones 10 and 11. They do best in rich, moist, well-drained soil in full sun, with shelter from wind that shreds the leaves. Banana plants are not flood tolerant. UF/IFAS notes that cultivars with M. balbisiana genes tend to handle drought better than pure M. acuminata types.

Patience pays off. From planting a small sucker to harvest takes 9 to 20 months, and from flowering to harvest takes 80 to 180 days, depending on temperature, cultivar, and care. NC State adds that young plants often do not flower until their second or third year, and container plants cut back each fall may never flower. For more, see when banana trees bear fruit.

FAQs about plantain vs banana plants