1. Bananas grow upside down toward the sun. A phenomenon called negative geotropism causes growing bananas to reach upward against gravity toward the sunlight, which gives them their iconic curved shape.

2. Wild bananas are full of large, hard seeds. The grocery store bananas we eat (Cavendish bananas) have been bred over centuries to be seedless, but natural wild bananas are packed with pea-sized black seeds that make them tricky to eat.

3. Bananas don't grow on trees. Although banana plants can grow up to 25 feet tall, they aren't real trees because they lack wooden trunks. They are actually giant herbaceous plants—making the banana plant the largest herb on Earth!

4. A single banana is a "finger," and a group is a "hand." Bananas grow together in large hanging clusters. A single row of bananas is called a "hand" (usually 10 to 20 bananas), and each individual fruit is called a "finger."

5. Bananas are botanically berries, but strawBERRIES aren't! In botany, a berry is defined as a fleshy fruit that comes from a single flower with a single ovary. Bananas fit this definition perfectly, while strawberries do not.

6. You can rub the inside of a banana peel on bug bites to stop itching. The natural oils, sugars, and polysaccharides inside the peel help draw out fluid and soothe inflamed skin from mosquito bites or minor scrapes.

7. Banana peels can make leather shoes shine. The natural potassium and fruit oils in a fresh banana peel act as a natural polish—rubbing the inside of a peel over leather shoes and wiping it off with a cloth leaves them shiny and clean!