# Nanners

> Nanners (bananas) are exposed, banana-shaped anthers on a female flower: a hermaphrodite trait, not a normal part of late flowering, and a reason to cull.

- Canonical: https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/nanners.html
- Also written: bananas, nanner, banana, late-flower bananas
- Glossary category: Grower slang and culture · Evidence: Myth
- Status: Draft: awaiting expert review · Updated: 2026-10-31
- Licence: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), attribute "GenetixBay cannabis glossary"

Nanners (bananas) are bare, yellow or pale-green [anthers](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/anther.md) that grow directly out of a [female flower](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pistillate-flower.md) cluster, usually late in flower. They shed pollen, often without an obvious pollen sac, and can seed the plant and anything nearby. They are a form of [intersex](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hermaphrodite.md) (hermaphrodite) flowering.

## In practice

A grower in week 7 of flower spots small yellow curved structures poking out of the buds. That is a nanner. Remove the plant from the room if possible, or at minimum pluck visible anthers carefully, bag the plant at harvest, and record the event against the cultivar. If several plants of one line do it, the line is the problem, not the room.

## Don't confuse with

- **Pistils/stigmas**: the white to orange "[hairs](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/pistil.md)" of a normal female flower.
- **Pollen sacs (balls)**: closed [male flowers](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/staminate-flower.md) at nodes. Nanners are naked anthers.
- **Foxtailing**: new calyx growth stacking on old buds, often from heat or [light stress](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/light-stress.md).

## Myth check

"A few bananas at the end are normal; it means the plant is finishing." GenetixBay house position (*Myth*): nanners are **not normal**. Drug-type cannabis has been dioecious and stable for thousands of years. Late bananas mean poor genetics, usually from repeated selfing, careless feminising or untested crosses; stress only reveals the weakness. Even the best gas you ever grew is a herm if it throws them. Cull it and don't breed from it. Research on intersex flowering (Punja & Holmes 2020) documents the trait; GenetixBay reads it as a breeding fault. See [hermaphrodites](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnosis/hermaphrodites.md) and [Mythbusters](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/mythbusters.md).

## Related terms

[Hermaphrodite](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/hermaphrodite.md), [Herm-prone](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/herm-prone.md), [Herm threshold](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/herm-threshold.md), [S1](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/glossary/s1.md)

## Read more

- [Hermaphrodite cannabis (bananas and nanners): what to do](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/diagnosis/hermaphrodites.md)
- [Male, female and hermaphrodite cannabis: how sex works](https://genetixbay.com/knowledge/basics/sex-male-female-hermaphrodite.md)

## Sources

1. Punja ZK, Holmes JE. 2020. Hermaphroditism in marijuana (Cannabis sativa L.) inflorescences: impact on floral morphology, seed formation, progeny sex ratios, and genetic variation. Frontiers in Plant Science 11:718. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00718