She is based on the banana, an edible fruit, botanically a berry, produced by several kinds of large herbaceous, flowering plants in the genus Musa; and the Tyrannosaurus, more commonly known as the species Tyrannosaurus rex, a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur.
Her name is a portmanteau of "banana," the real-life plant she is based on; and "Tyrannosaurus rex," the real-life dinosaur she is based on. Her name may also be inspired by Aaron James Loder, a Twitch Streamer and video game speedrunner who was professionally known as Bananasaurus Rex.
Statistics
Class: Mega-Grow
Tribes: Banana Animal Plant
Trait: Double Strike
Ability: Dino-Roar: This gets +1/+1.
Set - Rarity: Premium - Legendary
Card description
She's a banana first and a dinosaur second. But it's a close second.
Update history
Update 1.4.14
▲ Tribe change: Fruit Animal Plant → Banana Animal Plant
Update 1.16.10
Ability removed.
Trait added: Double Strike (Same effect as previous ability)
Update 1.22.12
Ability streamlined: When you draw a card: This gets +1/+1. → Dino-Roar: This gets +1/+1.
Strategies
With
While initially not the most cost-effective plant, Bananasaurus Rex can become very strong in the late game. However, since her base stats aren't that great, Bananasaurus Rex needs to get some stat boosts to truly shine.
Aside from pure stat-boosting cards, you can also increase her stats by drawing and conjuring cards, examples being Flourish and Holo-Flora. Party Thyme is a very good choice too, since Bananasaurus Rex does a bonus attack after she has finished attacking in the Fight! phase, causing it to draw at least one extra card per turn. While all other classes have ways to draw cards as well, Green Shadow is arguably the best hero in terms of card draw due to the Smarty class' abundance of card-drawers like Sow Magic Beans, Planet of the Grapes, and Lima-Pleurodon. She can also bounce and freeze zombies that pose a threat to Bananasaurus Rex using cards such as Grave Mistake, Jumping Bean, and Template:PvZHLink.
Bananasaurus Rex can also act as a superior alternative to Template:PvZHLink; while she does not benefit from Template:PvZHLink or The Podfather, she will outperform the combo given a few turns.
Flourish, Re-Peat Moss, Bananasaurus Rex, and possibly Party Thyme together are a great combo. When you play Flourish, Bananasaurus Rex will gain +2/+2 while Re-Peat Moss does a bonus attack. With Party Thyme as well, you will draw another card, boosting Bananasaurus Rex's stats by +1/+1 again. Since Bananasaurus Rex performs best with massive stat boosts, it's a good idea to give it using Template:PvZHLink.
Against
You should target this plant before she becomes too strong, but she is rather hard to deal with on the turn she is played unless boosted. This is because most tricks cannot deal with her efficiently and will need support, and the tricks that can (Knockout, Electrobolt, and Slammin' Smackdown) are limited. In addition, brains will likely be spent, and there will be no time for tricks. If she gets out of control, use instant-kill cards like Rocket Science, Locust Swarm, Deadly zombies, and Template:PvZHLink to destroy her. If none of these options are available, destroy plants that supply your opponent with more cards such as Mayflower and Party Thyme to slow down the process of boosting Bananasaurus Rex. And unless necessary (such as deliberately boosting her before playing Rocket Science), do not use Regifting Zombie, Wormhole Gatekeeper, or Unexpected Gifts, or she will get stronger.
Gallery
Plants vs. Zombies Wiki has a gallery for Bananasaurus Rex.