Driving around Martinique you see hillsides of dark green banana plants.  And yes, banana hands grow pointing up, and they are protected from insects and helped to ripen inside blue plastic bags.  There are many species of banana, including the plantain which must be cooked before eating, the sweet little "figue", the fat red "bluggoe", and the common "banane desert."  (Say that with a French accent and you'll see that they're talking about a dessert banana, not a desert one!)  Normally the banana flower grows beneath the hand, but on this ornamental banana (right) the flower grows up!

Breadfruit, though not native to the Caribbean is now abundant and a free food source for most anyone with a tree nearby.  This large, pulpy fruit lasts only a couple days once picked, and therefore isn't exported from the islands.  Captain Bligh is reported to have brought the first one to the island of St. Vincent hundreds of years ago, and its descendents still grow in the botanical garden there.  The fruit is peeled, boiled, and then eaten like a potato, or cut up and fried.