this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2025
368 points (100.0% liked)

Houseplants

5722 readers
18 users here now

Welcome to /c/houseplants @ Mander.xyz!

In between life, we garden.

About

We're a warm and informative space for plant enthusiasts to connect, learn, and flourish together. Dive into discussions on care, propagation, and styling, while embracing eco-friendly practices. Join us in nurturing growth and finding serenity through the extraordinary world of houseplants.

Need an ID on your green friends? Check out: !plantid@mander.xyz

Get involved in Citizen Science: Add your photo here to help build a database of plants across the entire planet. This database is used by non-profits, academia, and the sciences to promote biodiversity, learning and rewilding.

Rules

  1. Don't throw mud. Be kind and remember the human.
  2. Keep it rooted (on topic).
  3. No spam.

Resources

Recommendations

Health

Identification

Light Information

Databases

FOSS Tools

Similar Communities

DM us to add yours! :)

General

Gardening

Species

Regional

Science

Sister Communities

Science and Research

Biology and Life Sciences

Plants & Gardening

Physical Sciences

Humanities and Social Sciences

Memes

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
fossilesque@mander.xyz
hiajen@feddit.de
SciBot@mander.xyz
Spacebar@lemmy.world
tinycarnivoroussheep@possumpat.io
Doombot1@beehaw.org
368
After 4 years my banana tree decided it was time to fruit! (infosec.pub)
submitted 1 week ago by zdanger@lemmy.world to c/houseplants@mander.xyz
61 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I bought a banana tree in August of 2021 and never thought it would actually fruit. I was walking by it the other night and saw something purple/maroon out of the corner of my eye. Popped my head between some leaves and was greeted by some baby bananas!

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] NewNewAugustEast@lemmy.zip 12 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (7 children)

You seem to be making two points here:

  1. That people colloquially call it a tree, so don't "correct" it. We know what they are talking about.

That seems fair enough.

But then you seem to say that:

  1. There is no definition of what a tree or herb is so you can't separate the two. The term is used to describe non woody growth that dies back (among other things). How can you say the word herbaceous is not a testable definition?

I don't think it is pedantic at all. I have a banana patch, and I certainly consider them bushes instead of trees. I think people are interested in finding out the trivia that a banana tree is not a tree, but an herb.

[–] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Well you see, this dude is actually a moron who is quoting directly from the wikipedia page for "tree." Trying to sound like he understands what he's talking about. If he had done the due diligence of a first year botany student, he would at least have read the first paragraph of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana Which reads:

A banana is an elongated, edible fruit—botanically a berry[1]—produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa.

I know you're not addressing me. I just really don't appreciate people who claim to experts in the field I have devoted the last ten years of my life to. Who then demonstrate that they don't even understand what an herbivorous plant is.

You can’t grow them like an “herb”, whatever tf that is.

Don't listen to him, he's just a wikipedia warrior.

[–] TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Bro if you are going to throw shade, at least have the cajones to @ me.

I've taught first year botany and have a BSc in Botany. And I have graduate degrees in related fields.

This exact debate happening here is literally an exercise we do in the very first lab with first year botany students to highlight this exact issue: that there are differences in the technical use of language and the common use of language.

And the specific example we use? Guess what. Its "tree". We literally run undergraduates through the exercise of attempting to define the word "tree" to show them the difference between technical and scientific uses of language and how we might colloquially discuss things.

The point is to show students how to be careful with their use of language, and that in the sciences, we try to work towards terms that are both exclusive and exhaustive to avoid the kind-of fuzziness associated with normal language.

[–] BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world -2 points 1 week ago

I don't need to @ you, anyone who reads this thread can see you and know who I'm referring to

load more comments (4 replies)