PLANTAIN

(Musa paradisiaca), plant of the banana (q.v.) family (Musaceae) closely related to the common banana (M. sapientum). The plantain is a tall plant (310 metres [1033 feet]) with a conical false trunk formed by the leaf sheaths of its spirally arranged leaves, which are 1.5 to 3 m long and about 0.5 m wide. The fruit, which is green, is typically larger than the common banana. The botanical classification of plantains and bananas is so complicated that plantain is variously viewed as a subspecies of the banana, and the banana as a subspecies of plantain. The edible fruit of the plantain has more starch than the banana and is not eaten raw. Because plantain has a maximum of starch before it ripens, it is usually cooked green, either boiled or fried, often with coconut juice or sugar as a flavouring. It may also be dried for later use in cooking or ground for use as a meal. The plantain meal can be further refined to a flour. In some parts of East Africa the plantain is a staple food and beer-making crop, notably in central and eastern Uganda and Tanzania (formerly Tanganyika), and particularly in the area inhabited by the Chagga people. The plant is believed to have originated in Southeast Asia. Two groups of plantains are thought to have a common origin: the horn plantain and the French plantain. Both types grow in India, Africa, Egypt, and tropical America. The French plantains also occur in Indonesia and the islands of the Pacific. Plantain is also a common name for plants of the genus Plantago (q.v.) of the order Scrophulariales.