Author Topic: Any other fruit plants like banana and papaya that are herbaceous plants?  (Read 2612 times)

nurib

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Bananas and papayas seem to be so unique among fruit "trees" being quick growing short lived herbaceous plants, but what other "trees" like that exist? How about non-fruit herbaceous tree-like plants like that? Or smaller plants?
« Last Edit: August 30, 2018, 09:22:17 AM by nurib »

00christian00

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There is Canna Edulis which has similar growth as Banana and you east the corm cooked as a potato replacement.
Most of the solanum(same genus as tomato) plants fit your criteria and the are some that produce sweet fruits like tamarillo for example.

Grapebush

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These are not tree like, but produce good fruit and have a fast growth:
Cucurbitaceae like melons, watermelons, cassabanana, etc. Pineapples are also good ones, as well as passionfruits.
Life is all about learning, but sometimes, the more you learn, the less you seem to know...

DSotM

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Cassava (yuca root), castor bean, tree spinach, bamboo, elephant ear (taro root). Are all edible, tree-like herbaceous plants. There’s also tree collard. None of these are fruiting, but they are edible.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2018, 11:19:47 AM by DSotM »

WaterFowler

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Cassava (yuca root), castor bean, tree spinach, bamboo, elephant ear (taro root). Are all edible, tree-like herbaceous plants. There’s also tree collard. None of these are fruiting, but they are edible.

Castor bean plants are edible? I thought the entire plant possessed at least some level of toxicity to humans. The insects appear to love them so maybe I'm wrong on this

DSotM

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Sorry. Castor beans are very inedible and extremely poisonous. The oil is used cosmetically and medically, but is definitely inedible. Sorry for included it with the res

fruitlovers

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There is Canna Edulis which has similar growth as Banana and you east the corm cooked as a potato replacement.
Most of the solanum(same genus as tomato) plants fit your criteria and the are some that produce sweet fruits like tamarillo for example.
Yes, lots of herbaceous plants in tomato family: like tree tomato (aka tamarillo), cocona, pepino dulce, naranjilla. There are also leafy greens like edible hibiscus and katuk.
Oscar

nurib

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There is Canna Edulis which has similar growth as Banana and you east the corm cooked as a potato replacement.
Most of the solanum(same genus as tomato) plants fit your criteria and the are some that produce sweet fruits like tamarillo for example.
Yes, lots of herbaceous plants in tomato family: like tree tomato (aka tamarillo), cocona, pepino dulce, naranjilla. There are also leafy greens like edible hibiscus and katuk.

Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?

pineislander

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Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

nurib

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Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

Whats the largest one that you know of? Can it rival a banana or papaya "tree"?

JandJPalms

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Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

Whats the largest one that you know of? Can it rival a banana or papaya "tree"?
Tree tomato (cyphomandra betacea) gets quite tall. I had one in a pot in Portland, OR that was about 6-7'.  It had a decent trunk diameter as well.  Not as tall as some papayas, but decent size.

fruitlovers

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Re: Any other fruit plants like banana and papaya that are herbaceous plants?
« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2018, 03:18:22 AM »
Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

Whats the largest one that you know of? Can it rival a banana or papaya "tree"?
Plantain and Ensete are similar to banana. Babaco, mountain papaya, oakleaf papaya, and many other species in that genus (Vasconcella) are similar to papaya.
Oscar

DSotM

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Re: Any other fruit plants like banana and papaya that are herbaceous plants?
« Reply #12 on: September 01, 2018, 09:34:14 AM »
Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

Whats the largest one that you know of? Can it rival a banana or papaya "tree"?

Just looked up oakleaf papaya. Seems like a fun one to grow
Plantain and Ensete are similar to banana. Babaco, mountain papaya, oakleaf papaya, and many other species in that genus (Vasconcella) are similar to papaya.

pineislander

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Re: Any other fruit plants like banana and papaya that are herbaceous plants?
« Reply #13 on: September 01, 2018, 02:56:40 PM »
Thanks for these suggestions! Do you know of herbaceous plants similar in size to bananas and papayas? Or perhaps non-fruit tree-like plants of that size?
gingers

Whats the largest one that you know of? Can it rival a banana or papaya "tree"?
I've only started with gingers but here are some descriptions:
http://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/ornamental-gingers.html

There are a few like galangal, turmeric and culinary gingers you can buy at an Asian grocery and grow cheaply.

For size but not edibility you might look at the heliconias- Lobster claw, Bird of Paradise, etc.