Previous                 Philately Goes Bananas                 Next Where did these suckers originate? Where did these suckers originate? The first edible bananas are believed to have originated on the Malaysian peninsula and on the Pacific Islands north of Australia. Papua New Guinea is believed by archaeo-botanists to be the location of the first cultivation of bananas (in Kuk Swamp near modern Mount Hagen). According to Belgian botanist Edmond deLanghe, the first domesticated banana plants were grown for the turnip like corm. The seed-filled fruit was not eaten until mutations with more palatable fruit were selectively cultivated evolving into something resembling the fruit that is eaten today. Two "banana germplasm" souvenir sheets from Papua New Guinea were issued on August 28, 2017 celebrate the diversity of the locally available living tissue from which new plants can be grown (fig. 3). (fig.3) Previous                                                Next Return to the Philately Goes Bananas Home Page.