I saw this item in the online edition of the Concord Monitor, the daily newspaper of New Hampshire’s capitol city. According to the writer, a banana plant has spontaneously yielded fruit in front of Canterbury elementary school. The article linked here claims to have dispatched a photographer, though I couldn’t seem to find a photograph. But the item turned out to be true. I contacted principal Mary Morrison, and here’s what she wrote back:
“Yes, we have banana tree in our front hallway. The father of a fourth grade student who works in a nursery offered to donate a plant to the school. His son chose the banana tree. This was three years ago. The three foot high plant is now almost ten feet tall and has a bunch of green bananas.”
Though indoor banana trees aren’t rare, having them yield fruit isn’t necessarily common. The first person in the western world to accomplish such a feat was Linneaus, the father of modern taxonomy, and he did it in the 18th century! Hint to the schoolkids: bananas don’t ripen until they’re picked – that’s a risk, though, since they don’t always ripen when removed from the tree. I’d suggest starting with one and seeing what happens.
Added, April 2: Pictures, courtesy principal Morrison!
Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman 
