Bananas are perhaps one of the most easily distinguishable fruits due to their yellow colour and crescent moon shape. But have you ever wondered why are they curved? Here's why:
The reason why bananas are curved is because of the process known as called negative geotropism.
While geotropism is the growth of plants downwards due to gravity, negative geotropism, as the name suggests, is quite the opposite.
When bananas grow, they become heavy and start leaning towards the ground. But as they develop, they search for sunlight.
This happens due to the plant hormone auxin, which is responsible for how plants respond to sunlight.
As bananas usually grow in rainforests, where sunlight doesn't reach them, they are forced to grow upwards and become curved.
While we commonly see curved bananas, there are over 1000 varieties of bananas which come in different shapes, sizes, and colours, including ones without curves.