Is it true that the banana plant is a herb?

ferfer72

"Banana" is the name of a fruit and an herbaceous plant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana May 16 08, 9:09 AM

triviapaul

Not in the normal sense of the word. A herb is a plant that has some use as medicine or food flavouring, in that sense the banana is not a herb. Botanists use the word 'herb' for any herbacious plant and the "Banana is the common name for a fruit and also the herbaceous plants of the genus Musa". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbaceous_plant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb May 16 08, 2:55 PM

Baloo55th

As triviapaul points out, there is a difference between botanical and culinary English. Same sort of problem as the question of the tomato and rhubarb. Botanical English is no more 'correct' than culinary English - except within its own field. More people use the culinary terms in everyday life, so they are more familiar. May 16 08, 3:02 PM