Today is National Banana Lovers Day. Botanically speaking, the banana is a berry - a many seeded fruit. And, banana trees are not trees. The banana plant is a giant herb. Inside the guts of the banana tree trunk is a white tube. It may be cooked, and tastes like bamboo shoots. Under a black light (ultraviolet or UV), ripe bananas glow a beautiful bright blue. Scientists believe this is a signal to banana eating animals like insects and bats that can see UV light. In 1690, the first shipments of bananas reached Salem, Massachusetts. They tried boiling them with pork. Needless to say, it took another 200 years for bananas to catch on in North America. Today, average U.S. banana consumption is almost 30 pounds per year. Until the early 1800s in Hawaii, most banana varieties were 'kapu' - forbidden for women of Hawaii to eat, under penalty of death. Banana's are facing a huge threat in the form of a pathogenic fungus called Fusarium wilt tropical race 4 (TR4) or Panama Disease. TR4 was first discovered in Taiwan in the 1990s. It has slowly made its way around the world. Just this month, on August 8th, researchers confirmed that TR4 is infecting banana plants in Latin America - Columbia declared a national state of emergency. This may seem extreme or over-reactive to people who don't realize that the fungus, TR4, lives in the soil for decades, making the land unlivable for future banana crops. TR4 first attacks the roots before spreading through the rest of the plant. Unfortunately, fungicides do not work against the disease. Thanks to Sir Joseph Paxton, the English gardener, architect and politician, who cultivated the Cavendish banana - who named it after William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire who fancied them. In November 1935, five years after receiving a specimen imported from Mauritius, Joseph Paxton's plant finally flowered and by the following May it was loaded with more than 100 bananas, one of which won a medal at that year's Horticultural Society show. Today, bananas still grow on the Devonshire estate and the Cavendish banana is the most-consumed banana in the western world - it accounts for 99.9% of bananas in the western world - it accounts or 99.9% of bananas traded globally. It replaced a tastier variety who was wiped out be a fungal disease in the 1950s. Today, work is underway to create a Cavendish banana replacement. Although, earlier this month, a scientist predicted, "Eventually, it will not be possible to produce the Cavendish banana variety for international trade." We eat the variety of banana known as the Cavendish banana.     Brevities #OTD     Today is the birthday of Maria van Oosterwijck who was born on this day in 1630. Oosterwijck was an incredible Dutch Golden Age painter, specializing in flower paintings and still life. Her art was rich, vividly detailed, and incredibly realistic. Her still lifes of flowers in ornate vases were often set against a dark background and featured flowers like sunflowers, roses, carnations, hyacinths, parrot tulips, berries and her most famous paintings included a red admiral butterfly. In her 40's, her studio was opposite another flower painter by the name of Willem van Aelst. He attempted to woo Maria, but her heart belonged really only to her art. When he kept asking her, she finally agreed to marry him if he could prove that he could match her work ethic - he needed to paint every day, for 10 hours a day, for a year... only then would she marry him. Well, he couldn't do it and Maria remained single throughout her life. Oosterwijck's paintings were purchased by Kings and Emperors after she smartly secured an agent to market her work.       #OTD     Today is the birthday of the botanist Edwin James who was born on this day in Vermont in 1797. As a young man, James compiled the very first Flora of Vermont plants. James went on one of the first expeditions of the American West from Pittsburgh to the Rocky Mountains.  He discovered the mountain Columbine, Aqui