The banana flower is a large purplish red blossom that grows from the end of a bunch of bananas, which did not form into bananas. The banana flower is treated in several Asian and tropical cuisines as a vegetable. It is known in Japan as banana no tsubomi, in Thailand as dok kluai, Indonesia & Malaysia as jantung pisang, in China as shang chao fua, in Sri Lanka as kehel mal, and in India as kere kafool. The words “banana flower” are variously translated as “banana blossom,” “banana heart,” due to its physical resemblance to that organ, or “plantain blossom.”