Your word skills are blooming if you picked A! The history of "banister" traces back to the Greek word "balaustion," the name of the vase-shaped flower of the pomegranate tree. Latin speakers adopted the flower's name as "balaustium," which became "balaustra" in Italian. Italian speakers noticed the vase-like shape of the pomegranate flower and applied their word for it to other vase-shaped items, such as the stem of a wine glass. The upright spindles of a rail also often have that vase shape. French speakers borrowed the Italian word as "balustre," which passed into English as "baluster." In English, "baluster" was altered to form "banister.”