Welcome to Heliconias... Heliconias... Heliconias

This blog is all about growing Heliconias, an exotic plant not native to Malaysia. All pictures shown are digital photos of the actual species in my garden such as Rostrata, Dwarf Jamaican, Latispatha and several psittacorums such as Andromeda, Lady Di, Fuschia, Strawberry & Cream and hybrids such as Golden Torch and Alan Carle.

Heliconia are close relatives of gingers, bananas, birds-of-paradise and traveler’s palms. There are more than 200 (350 including cultivars) documented species of the single genus, with the bulk of them originating from Central and South America such as Guyana, Costa Rica, Berlize, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. You may be interested to note that about 6 species have evolved separately in the South Pacific and Indonesia, and typically have green inflorescence.The name "heliconia" actually comes from Greek mythology after the great Mount Helicon, the abode of the muses of the arts and sciences.

The beauty of the heliconia lies in the brightly coloured bracts that are mistakenly called the flowers. The actual flower is the tiny little flowers that emerge from the large showy bracts. Each stem can only flower once, after which the entire stem deteriorates, drives up and collapses. As such, it is recommended to cut at the base of 'flowered-out' stems.

BTW, this blog has been read by visitors from Australia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, Netherland, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, United Kingdom & United States of America :-)

16th Sept 2009 : 17:30

Friday, October 3, 2008

cv Rostrata aka False Birds of Paradise, Heliconia Rostrata Ruiz & Pava



My friend Sally gave me this heliconia.

From what I read, False Birds of Paradise has the following characteristics :-

Blooming
All year.

Height
3 - 20 Feet

Habitat
Full sun - 50 % of shade

Distribution
Originally Amazonian Peru & Edcuador. Now widely cultivated around the world.

Inflorescence
4-35 bracts.
Red over most of the bracts to yellow, green-tellow distally, lip yellow-green proximally to green distally.

Rachis
Red

Sepals
Bright yellow distally turning lighter to almost clear white at base.

Ovary
White

Pedicel
White

Vegetation
Musoid




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