Is it a fruit, an herb or a berry? Well, bananas are all those things. The banana is the most confusing item I have ever come across in produce. What's so confusing you ask? The confusion is in respect of the definition of 'Banana'. The Banana tree itself is an herb. The best definition of herb as far as I know is this: Herb is a flowering plant with a fleshy rather than woody stem, which usually dies back at the end of each growing season. The Banana tree trunk is a false stem formed by tightly wrapped leaf sheaths. The Banana itself is from the berry family. A berry is a simple fruit having a skin surrounding one or more seeds in a fleshy pulp. If you cut a banana in lengthwise, in the center, you will notice very tiny black 'seeds'. So, the Banana is a fruit, herb and a berry.