A strangely-long banana branch packed with fruits was exhibited during a banana festival in Thailand.

The five-day event dubbed "Nana Banana" featured more than 30 different varieties of the yellow and green tropical fruit on display in Bangkok.

The mall's marketing manager Chaiwasut Techaphat Angkoon said the Nana Banana event aims to promote the local fruits in season to boost agriculture and healthy living.

He said: "Thai people have been familiar with bananas since birth. The fruit has many benefits.

"But we don't just eat them, its parts are also used to manufacture a variety of things. They are very useful."

More than 30 banana varieties were exhibited at the event at the Seacon Bangkae centre on Petchkasem Road last week. They included the milk Sawan banana, Burmese jailbreak banana, pink lotus banana and the elephant claw banana.

A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large flowering plants. In some countries, bananas used for cooking may be called "plantains," distinguishing them from the sweet ones mostly eaten for dessert.