Banana: Major Cultivars and Varieties
Over 1,000 banana varieties exist worldwide but fewer than 20 are commercially significant. Cavendish (AAA) dominates global exports at ~47% of production. Gros Michel (AAA), once the commercial standard, was replaced after Panama disease wiped it out by 1965.
Banana Varieties: A Global Survey
🍌 The banana world is far broader than the uniform yellow fruit on supermarket shelves. Over 1,000 distinct cultivars have been catalogued by Bioversity International and the Musa Germplasm Information System (MGIS). They range from finger-sized sweet dessert types to starchy metre-long plantains, from green-when-ripe varieties to red-skinned or purple-striped cultivars. Yet global trade is dominated by a single clone.
The Dominance of Cavendish
The Cavendish group (genome AAA) accounts for approximately 47% of global banana production by weight and over 95% of bananas traded on international export markets. It is not a single variety but a group of closely related clones:
| Cavendish Subgroup | Other Names | Export Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Grande Naine | Chiquita, Dole standard | Most widely exported globally |
| Williams | Giant Cavendish | Major in Australia, some Latin America |
| Valery | Robusta | Significant in Central America |
| Dwarf Cavendish | — | Common in home gardens; less export |
Grande Naine (French for “large dwarf”) is the industry standard: the banana in virtually every supermarket in North America, Europe, and East Asia.
Why Cavendish Replaced Gros Michel
Before 1965, the global export standard was the Gros Michel (AAA), considered superior to Cavendish in every commercial respect: thicker skin that resisted bruising, longer shelf life, creamier flavor, and a natural banana aroma far more intense than Cavendish. Artificial banana flavoring — found in candy, sweets, and liqueurs — was formulated to match Gros Michel, not Cavendish. This is why artificial banana flavor tastes “wrong” to people who only know the modern fruit.
Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense Race 1, or Foc-R1) swept through commercial Gros Michel plantations from the 1950s onward, rendering monoculture plantations unsalvageable. By approximately 1965, Gros Michel had been commercially abandoned for export. Cavendish was selected as the replacement because it is resistant to Foc-R1. It is, however, susceptible to a new strain — Tropical Race 4 (TR4) — now spreading globally.
Major Variety Comparison Table
| Variety | Genome Group | Flavor Profile | Primary Use | Notable Fact |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavendish (Grande Naine) | AAA | Mild, sweet, slightly tangy | Dessert; global export | ~47% of world production |
| Gros Michel | AAA | Creamy, rich, intensely sweet | Dessert (historical) | Source of artificial banana flavor; wiped out by Foc-R1 |
| French Plantain | AAB | Starchy, neutral when unripe; sweet when very ripe | Cooking (fried, boiled) | Largest plantain type; up to 40 cm long |
| Horn Plantain | AAB | Very starchy, firm | Cooking | Fewest fingers per hand (often 4–6) |
| Red Banana (Red Dacca) | AAA | Sweet, soft, slight raspberry note | Dessert | Red/purple skin; shorter and plumper than Cavendish |
| Lady Finger (Pisang Mas) | AA | Very sweet, thin-skinned, honey-like | Dessert | Smallest common variety; 8–12 cm |
| Blue Java (Ice Cream) | ABB | Creamy, vanilla-like texture | Dessert | Blue-green skin before ripening; exceptionally creamy flesh |
| Goldfinger (FHIA-01) | AAAB | Apple-like, crisp | Dessert/cooking | Disease-resistant bred variety; potential Cavendish successor |
| Manzano (Apple Banana) | AAB | Tart-sweet, apple/strawberry notes | Dessert | Turns black when ripe; popular in Latin America |
| Lacatan | AAA | Mild, firmer than Cavendish | Dessert | Common in Philippines; older Cavendish predecessor |
Plantains vs. Dessert Bananas
The distinction between plantains and dessert bananas is culinary rather than strictly botanical. All plantains are bananas, but the term “plantain” is commonly applied to starchy AAB or ABB genome types that are typically cooked before eating. They are major staple crops across West Africa, Central Africa, the Caribbean, and parts of Latin America and Asia.
| Feature | Dessert Banana (e.g., Cavendish) | Plantain (e.g., French type) |
|---|---|---|
| Genome group | AAA | AAB |
| Sugar:starch ratio (unripe) | Higher sugar | Very high starch |
| Eaten raw? | Yes | Rarely; usually cooked |
| Skin thickness | Thin | Thick |
| Typical length | 15–22 cm | 25–40 cm |
| Primary region | Global export | Africa, Caribbean, Americas |
Genetic Diversity and Conservation
🍌 The extreme narrowness of global export trade — effectively one clone, Grande Naine — creates systemic vulnerability. Bioversity International’s Musa collection at the International Transit Centre in Leuven, Belgium, maintains over 1,500 accessions of Musa germplasm, representing the genetic diversity that breeders need to develop disease-resistant successors to Cavendish.
Traditional farming systems in Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, India, and West Africa maintain dozens to hundreds of local varieties that never enter international trade. This on-farm diversity represents the resilience the commercial system lacks.
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Related Pages
- Banana Taxonomy — genus Musa, genome group system, AAA vs. AAB explained
- Banana Genetics — chromosome counts, triploid sterility, 2012 genome sequence
- Gros Michel Extinction — how Panama disease ended the Gros Michel era
- Cavendish Crisis — Tropical Race 4 and the threat to the current standard