Bananas are the fruit of Musa acuminata. Acuminata means long-pointed or tapering, not referring to the fruit, but to the flowers giving birth to the fruit.
The original banana has been cultivated and used since ancient times, even pre-dating the cultivation of rice. While the banana thrived in Africa, its origins are said to be of East Asia and Oceania.
Bananas can help cure or prevent hangovers. The main causes of hangovers are dehydration and depletion of potassium, both direct results of alcohol consumption.
Bananas are an excellent source of potassium with over 450 mg. per one banana serving, as well as being high in magnesium, which can help relax those pounding blood vessels causing that nasty hangover headache.
A taxonomic scoring method is used to classify the edible bananas and to provide evidence on their evolution. Edible diploid forms of Musa acuminata are thought to be the primary source of the whole group to which another species, M, baibisiana, has contributed by hybridization. Thus there exist diploid and triploid edible forms of M. acuminata and diploid, triploid and tetraploid hybrid types of genetic constitutions that vary according to their histories. There is a faint possibility that a third wild species has contributed to the origins of a small group of triploid hybrid types. Triploidy was probably established under human selection for vigour and fruit size; tetraploidy is inexplicably rare. The centre of origin of the group is Indo-Malaya and Malaya is probably the primary centre. The two Ldnnaean species M. paradisiaca and M. sapientum refer to identifiable edible varieties which are both shown here to be of hybrid origin. The names therefore may be rejected from the nomenclature of the wild bananas.