A PANDA'S NOT A BEAR

And now that you know, it will bother you when someone says, "Oh, look, at the panda bear."

Another oddity is that there are no banana trees in Costa Rica, the number 2 export country of bananas in the world. Actually there are no banana trees in the world. Bananas are the largest herb. That's right, they grow from a root system rather than a tree system which makes them an herb rather than a tree.

At least that's the knowledge they are imparting in the Del Monte banana plantation in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica. After a recent tour there, I learned more about bananas that I have any right to know.

A few other morsels of intellectual stimuli that you may use in your nogginal data base:

bananas grow in 100-pound bunches.

they cover them with blue plastic bags to ward off insects and pesticides.

they are exported only if they have no blemishes at all.

if they do have a spot, they are kept in Costa Rica. The worst spotted ones are fed to cattle.

the banana bloom is a beautiful maroon or burgundy color.

the banana is curved because as it grows, it reaches for the sun.

the banana that we eat is actually its ovaries.

the male portion of the banana is chopped off and discarded.

And you thought this entry was going to be about the panda bear. Oops!