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 91 bananas DHJanzen101126.jpg high resolution
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| Speaking of the Old World, a quick look at the old world analogue to the hummingbird-pollinated Heliconia in images DHJanzen101093.jpg and DHJanzen101096.jpg above may be useful. You know one example very, very well. The banana (Musa cavendishii in the Musaceae) is really hardly more than an Old World Heliconia (or, a Heliconia in the Heliconiaceae is hardly more than a New World Musa). Here in the background under the clouds a plantation of bananas covers the lowlands of Costa Rica, replacing the rainforest with its thousands of species of trees. Costa Rica is the number two banana exporter in the world, and and nearly all of those plants are vegetatively produced from a single parent plant many decades ago. | ||
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