How to Identify Which Banana Tree Plant I Have

1). Check out the banana tree trunk or stalk. Banana plants are made of layers of leaf sheaths, like an artichoke. With the red or red Spanish banana variety, the whole plant is variegated green and red, with an 18-inch trunk, or pseudostem.
2). Look for the dropping heart. Before the plant bears fruit, a red, heart-shaped vine drops from the tree top. Watch for the bundle of green bananas to ripen near the heart.
3). Inspect the leaves. Look at the type of large banana leaves connected to the stalk, or trunk. Look for green to green-purplish leaves. Measure the leaves. The common banana trees' leaves grow around 9 feet long and 2 feet wide.
4). Peak inside the purple heart or "bud." The purple bud will open to reveal several rows of white flowers with tubular centers. These flowers are what will eventually grow into bananas.
5). Inspect the flowers. Some banana trees flower and others do not. For example, the dwarf cavendish banana variety is recognizable because the flowers do not fall. Bracts -- fleshy peels that grow between rows of flowers -- are thought of as petals. The meaty part of bracts are edible.
6). Search the fruit. Notice the way the banana fruits grow. Most banana tree fruits grow in large bunches, but some cultivars have smaller bunches or "hands." Note the length of the bananas--a standard size is from 2 to 12 inches long. The giant cavendish cultivar, or variety, has large fruits, around 12 inches, that are thick skinned.
7). Measure the tree's height. Note that one of the most well known edible banana tree varieties is the lady finger. If you have this banana tree plant, measure the height to about 25 feet.
8). Measure the width. Banana trees with slender trunks but complex or chunky root systems are often the lady finger variety or a similar edible banana type, like the gros Michel.
9). Taste the fruit. Edible bananas have dark-brown sheaths and nearly wax-free leaves. Check that the fruit bunches are also thin-skinned and yellowish. Split the banana in sections: the inner part of the common yellow banana, such as the cavendish, splits lengthwise into three long, seeded sections.