Seeds from Musa acuminata. Cavendish banana is a large, fast-growing, suckering, evergreen plant that typically grows to 12-20 feet tall in the tropics. Many of the bananas sold in grocery stores are from cultivars of this species or from hybrids. Gardeners grow these plants not for their fruit but for their ornamental foliage that lends an exotic and tropical feel to the home or landscape. Plants produce huge paddle-shaped leaves that grow to 6-10 foot long. Leaf sheathes overlap to form a trunk-like pseudostem false stem. Cream to yellow flowers may appear in summer on mature plants to be followed by edible yellow bananas. Zone 10-11.