Gros Michel (French pronunciation: [ɡʁo miʃɛl]), often translated and known as "Big Mike", is an export cultivar of banana and was, until the 1950s, the main variety grown.

[5][6] French naturalist Nicolas Baudin carried a few corms of this banana from Southeast Asia, depositing them at a botanical garden on the Caribbean island of Martinique.

[8] Gros Michel bananas were grown on massive plantations in Honduras, Costa Rica, and elsewhere in Central America.

cubense, wiped out vast tracts of Gros Michel plantations in Central America, though it is still grown on non-infected land throughout the region.

[11] The Gros Michel has a higher concentration of isoamyl acetate, the ester commonly used for "banana" food flavoring, than the Cavendish.