Together, eating bananas (Musa acuminata) and cooking bananas often provide up to half of the caloric needs for people in the areas where they grow. Although it is an herbacious plant related to grasses, most bananas occupy the space of a small tree in the layers of the forest. Bananas have been cultivated by humans for so long that they no longer produce seed and are dependent upon people for their propagation.

Like their relatives the grasses, bananas accumulate Potassium in the fruit and in the plant body, making the mulch a valuable addition to the garden.