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Banana

Musa acuminata, Musaceae

Sources last read 14 September 2026.

Not yet rated How forgiving it is has not been judged here yet.

Also called Banana Plant, Dessert Banana, Edible Banana, Musa Paradisiaca and Plantain.

Banana (Musa acuminata), the whole plant.
Александровы АГ, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Toxicity is partly unassessed

  • Listed as non-toxic to cats by ASPCA.
  • Listed as non-toxic to dogs by ASPCA.
  • Not assessed for people. NC State Extension publishes no harm statement for this plant. That is not a finding of safety: none of the sources read for this site gives an answer either way. Treat it as unknown.

What the sources say about its care

Sources file this plant under other names: Musa acuminata 'Dwarf Cavendish' (AAA Group) (F). Citations below point at the name its source uses.

Light
Full sun, Partial Shade
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Water
Good Drainage, Moist
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Humidity

No source read publishes a humidity figure for any plant on this site. What follows is general guidance for foliage plants.

ASHRAE recommends indoor relative humidity between 30% and 60% 30–60%
Penn State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Soil
Clay, High Organic Matter, Loam (Silt), Sand
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to cats
Non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Toxic to dogs
Non-toxic
ASPCA · read 13 September 2026
Harmful to people
No record of poisoning in people is listed for this plant; that absence is not evidence it is safe.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Routine care

Feeding
Keep the soil from drying out, and feed regularly.
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Propagation
Seed
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

Move something and watch

Loading the simulator. It needs JavaScript; the care table above does not.

Banana (Musa acuminata) growing in a pot.
In a potRudolphous, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

About the plant

Musa acuminata is a species of banana native to Southern Asia, its range comprising the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Many of the modern edible dessert bananas are derived from this species, although some are hybrids with Musa balbisiana. First cultivated by humans around 8000 BCE, it is one of the early examples of domesticated plants.

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · read 13 September 2026

Native range
Trop. & Subtrop. Asia
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Southeast Asia, India, Indonesia
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Climate
wet tropical
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Growth form
herbaceous tree
World Checklist of Vascular Plants, June 2026 release, CC BY.
Kew WCVP · read 13 September 2026
Herbaceous Perennial; habit erect
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Size
Height 144–240 in; width 72–120 in
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026
Flowering
Flowers cream/tan, gold/yellow
NC State Extension · read 13 September 2026

More of the Musaceae family

Plants with similar care

Sources

What this does not cover

The figures above are what published sources say, not measurements of the plant in your room. They say nothing about your pot size, your water, the season, or how far from the glass the plant stands, and those decide more than any figure here does.

Humidity has no species figure because no source read for this site publishes one, and the only temperature published for this plant is a cold floor. The simulator fills those gaps with general figures for its kind of plant, marked as general and listed on how we read sources. Where a toxicity row says the plant was not assessed, that is the absence of a finding and not a finding of safety.

If something is already wrong, the diagnosis tool asks about the soil, the window and the watering, which is where the answer usually is.