Plantain

Also cooking banana; platano and platano macho (Latin American)

Questions about use are easily answered. Not so the questions raised (and not answered here) by a botanical description: Plantain is classified as Musa x paradisiaca (as are most bananas), a perennial herb, the fruit of which is a berry. The berry is called both banana and plantain (and by similar names) in many parts of the world, but depending upon the locale, the meanings may be reversed.