Heliconia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Zingiberales

Familia: Heliconiaceae
Genus: Heliconia
Subgenera: H. subg. Griggsia – H. subg. Heliconia – H. subg. Heliconiopsis – H. subg. Stellochlamys – H. subg. Taeniostrobus
Species: H. abaloi – H. acuminata – H. adflexa – H. aemygdiana – H. albicosta – H. angelica – H. angusta – H. apparicioi – H. arrecta – H. atratensis – H. atropurpurea – H. aurantiaca – H. aurea – H. auriculata – H. badilloi – H. barryana – H. beckneri – H. bella – H. berguidoi – H. berriziana – H. berryi – H. bihai – H. bourgaeana – H. brachyantha – H. brenneri – H. burleana – H. calatheiphylla – H. caquetensis – H. carajaensis – H. caribaea – H. carmelae – H. chartacea – H. chrysocraspeda – H. clinophila – H. colgantea – H. collinsiana – H. combinata – H. cordata – H. crassa – H. cristata – H. cucullata – H. curtispatha – H. danielsiana – H. darienensis – H. dasyantha – H. densiflora – H. dielsiana – H. donstonea – H. episcopalis – H. estherae – H. estiletioides – H. excelsa – H. farinosa – H. faunorum – H. fernandezii – H. foreroi – H. fragilis – H. fredberryana – H. fugax – H. gaiboriana – H. gigantea – H. gilbertiana – H. gloriosa – H. gracilis – H. griggsiana – H. harlingii – H. hirsuta – H. holmquistiana – H. huilensis – H. ignescens – H. imbricata – H. impudica – H. indica – H. intermedia – H. irrasa – H. juliani – H. juruana – H. kautzkiana – H. lanata – H. lankesteri – H. lasiorachis – H. latispatha – H. laufao – H. laxa – H. lentiginosa – H. librata – H. lingulata – H. litana – H. longa – H. longiflora – H. lophocarpa – H. lourteigiae – H. lozanoi – H. luciae – H. lutea – H. lutheri – H. maculata – H. magnifica – H. marginata – H. mariae – H. markiana – H. mathiasiae – H. meridensis – H. metallica – H. mincana – H. monteverdensis – H. mooreana – H. mucilagina – H. mucronata – H. mutisiana – H. nariniensis – H. necrobracteata – H. nigripraefixa – H. nitida – H. nubigena – H. nutans – H. obscura – H. obscuroides – H. oleosa – H. orthotricha – H. osaensis – H. paka – H. paludigena – H. papuana – H. pardoi – H. pastazae – H. peckenpaughii – H. pendula – H. penduloides – H. peteriana – H. platystachys – H. pogonantha – H. pruinosa – H. pseudoaemygdiana – H. psittacorum – H. ramonensis – H. regalis – H. reptans – H. reticulata – H. revoluta – H. rhodantha – H. richardiana – H. rigida – H. riopalenquensis – H. rivularis – H. robertoi – H. robusta – H. rodriguensis – H. rodriguezii – H. rostrata – H. samperiana – H. sanctae-theresae – H. santaremensis – H. sarapiquensis – H. scarlatina – H. schiedeana – H. schumanniana – H. sclerotricha – H. secunda – H. sessilis – H. signa-hispanica – H. solomonensis – H. spathocircinata – H. spiralis – H. spissa – H. standleyi – H. stella-maris – H. stilesii – H. stricta – H. subulata – H. sucrei – H. tacarcunae – H. talamancana – H. tandayapensis – H. tenebrosa – H. terciopela – H. thomasiana – H. timothei – H. titanum – H. tortuosa – H. trichocarpa – H. triflora – H. umbrophila – H. uxpanapensis – H. vaginalis – H. vellerigera – H. velutina – H. venusta – H. veracruzensis – H. villosa – H. virginalis – H. wagneriana – H. willisiana – H. wilsonii – H. xanthovillosa – H. zebrina
Nothospecies: H. × flabellata – H. × mantenensis – H. × nickeriensis – H. × plagiotropa – H. × rauliniana
Name

Heliconia L., 1771, nom. cons.

Typus: Heliconia bihai (L.) L.

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Bihai Mill., Gard. Dict. Abr. ed. 4. 1754, nom. rej.
Heliconiopsis Miq., Fl. Ned. Ind. 3: 590. 1859.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Asia-Tropical
Malesia
Maluku,
Papuasia
Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, Solomon Islands,
Southwestern Pacific
Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Santa Cruz Islands, Vanuatu,
Northern America
Mexico
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast,
Southern America
Central America
Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama,
Caribbean
Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Islands,
Northern South America
French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela,
Western South America
Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru,
Brazil
Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South,
Southern South America
Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Paraguay.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition

References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1771. Mantissa Plantarum Altera. Generum Editionis VI et Specierum Editionis II. Holmiae [Stockholm]. pp. [6] + 143­–587, Appendix. BHL Reference page. : 2: 147.

Additional references

Rodríguez, Gilberto. 1954: “Sobre Heliconia latispatha Bentham y una especie no descrita confundida con ella”. Acta Biologica Venezuelica. Caracas, 1(12): 209–212.
Rodríguez, Gilberto. 1954: “Revisión del género Heliconia en Venezuela”. Boletín de la Sociedad Venezolana de Ciencias Naturales. Caracas. 15(81): 117–130.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2021. Heliconia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 07. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2021. Heliconia. Published online. Accessed: Oct 07 2021.
Tropicos.org 2021. Heliconia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 07.
Hassler, M. 2021. Heliconia. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2021. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2021 Oct 07. Reference page.

Vernacular names
English: Lobster Claws
中文: 赫蕉属

Heliconia, derived from the Greek word Ἑλικώνιος (helikṓnios) , is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species[3] are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku.[2] Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Most species are listed as either vulnerable or data deficient by the IUCN Red List of threatened species.[4] Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, and Thailand.[5] Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, toucan beak, wild plantain, or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers (Strelitzia). Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as "heliconias".

Description

These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species.[6] The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in–10 ft). They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on nonwoody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly colored, waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to Canna, Strelitzia, and bananas, to which they are related. The flowers can be hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, and are subtended by brightly colored bracts. Floral shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region.[7]
Leaf

The leaves in different positions on the plant have a different absorption potential of sunlight for photosynthesis when exposed to different degrees of sunlight.[8] They also look like lobster claws.
Flower

The flowers produce ample nectar that attracts pollinators, most prevalent of which are hummingbirds.[9]
Heliconia rostrata growing in West Bengal, India
Heliconia rostrata Inflorescence close up
Seeds

Fruits are blue-purple when ripe and primarily bird dispersed.[10] Studies of post-dispersal seed survival showed that seed size was not a determinant. The highest amount of seed predation came from mammals.[11]
Taxonomy

Heliconia is the only genus in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas (e.g., Musa, Ensete;[12]). However, the APG system of 1998, and its successor, the APG II system of 2003, confirm the Heliconiaceae as distinct and places them in the order Zingiberales, in the commelinid clade of monocots.
Cladogram: Phylogeny of Zingiberales[13]

Zingiberales     Zingiberineae Zingiberariae   Zingiberaceae     Costaceae     Cannariae   Cannaceae     Marantaceae         Strelitziineae   Lowiaceae     Strelitziaceae       Heliconiaceae             Musaceae

 
 
Species

Species accepted by Kew Botanic Gardens[5]

Image	Scientific name	Distribution
	Heliconia abaloi	Colombia
	Heliconia acuminata	South America
	Heliconia adflexa	S Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
	Heliconia aemygdiana	South America
	Heliconia albicosta	Costa Rica
	Heliconia angelica	Ecuador
	Heliconia angusta	SE Brazil
	Heliconia apparicioi	Ecuador, Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia arrecta	Colombia
	Heliconia atratensis	Colombia
	Heliconia atropurpurea	Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica
	Heliconia aurantiaca	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia auriculata	Bahia
	Heliconia badilloi	Colombia
	Heliconia barryana	Chiriquí
	Heliconia beckneri	Costa Rica
	Heliconia bella	Panama
	Heliconia berguidoi	E Panama
	Heliconia berriziana	Colombia
	Heliconia berryi	Napo, Ecuador
	Heliconia bihai	West Indies, N South America
	Heliconia bourgaeana	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia brachyantha	Panama, Colombia, Venezuela
	Heliconia brenneri	Ecuador
	Heliconia burleana	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia caltheaphylla	Costa Rica
	Heliconia caquetensis	Colombia
	Heliconia carajaensis	Pará
	Heliconia caribaea	West Indies
	Heliconia carmelae	Colombia
	Heliconia chartacea	N South America
	Heliconia chrysocraspeda	Colombia
	Heliconia clinophila	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia colgantea	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia collinsiana	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia combinata	Colombia
	Heliconia cordata	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia crassa	Guatemala
	Heliconia cristata	Panama
	Heliconia cucullata	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia curtispatha	Colombia, Ecuador, Central America
	Heliconia danielsiana	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia darienensis	Colombia, Panama
	Heliconia dasyantha	Suriname, French Guiana
	Heliconia densiflora	Trinidad, N South America
	Heliconia dielsiana	NW South America
	Heliconia donstonea	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia episcopalis	South America
	Heliconia estherae	Colombia
	Heliconia estiletioides	Colombia
	Heliconia excelsa	Napo
	Heliconia farinosa	SE Brazil, NE Argentina
	Heliconia faunorum	Panama
	Heliconia fernandezii	Antioquia, Colombia
	Heliconia × flabellata	Ecuador
	Heliconia foreroi	Colombia
	Heliconia fragilis	Colombia
	Heliconia fredberryana	Imbabura
	Heliconia fugax	Peru
	Heliconia gaiboriana	Los Ríos
	Heliconia gigantea	Colombia
	Heliconia gloriosa	Peru
	Heliconia gracilis	Costa Rica
	Heliconia griggsiana	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia harlingii	Ecuador
	Heliconia hirsuta	Central + South America, Trinidad
	Heliconia holmquistiana	Colombia
	Heliconia huilensis	Colombia
	Heliconia ignescens	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia imbricata	Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
	Heliconia impudica	Ecuador
	Heliconia indica	Papuasia, Maluku
	Heliconia intermedia	Colombia
	Heliconia irrasa	Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua
	Heliconia julianii	N South America
	Heliconia juruana	Ecuador, Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia kautzkiana	Espírito Santo
	Heliconia lanata	Solomon Islands
	Heliconia lankesteri	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia lasiorachis	Colombia, Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia latispatha	from S Mexico to Peru
	Heliconia laufao	Samoa
	Heliconia laxa	Colombia
	Heliconia lentiginosa	Antioquia
	Heliconia librata	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia lingulata	Peru, Bolivia
	Heliconia litana	Imbabura
Colombia, Ecuador, Central America.jpg" decoding="async" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Heliconia_longiflora_-_Colombia%2C_Ecuador%2C_Central_America.jpg/180px-Heliconia_longiflora_-_Colombia%2C_Ecuador%2C_Central_America.jpg 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Heliconia_longiflora_-_Colombia%2C_Ecuador%2C_Central_America.jpg/240px-Heliconia_longiflora_-_Colombia%2C_Ecuador%2C_Central_America.jpg 2x" data-file-width="2592" data-file-height="3872" height="179" width="120" />	Heliconia longiflora	Colombia, Ecuador, Central America
	Heliconia longissima	Colombia
	Heliconia lophocarpa	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia lourteigiae	South America
	Heliconia lozanoi	Colombia
	Heliconia luciae	B Amazonas
	Heliconia lutea	Panama
	Heliconia luteoviridis	Colombia
	Heliconia lutheri	Ecuador
	Heliconia maculata	Panama
	Heliconia magnifica	Panama
	Heliconia × mantenensis	Minas Gerais
	Heliconia marginata	N South America, S Central America
	Heliconia mariae	NW South America, Central America
	Heliconia markiana	Ecuador
	Heliconia marthiasiae	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia meridensis	Colombia, Venezuela
	Heliconia metallica	N South America, Central America
	Heliconia monteverdensis	Costa Rica
	Heliconia mooreana	Guerrero
	Heliconia mucilagina	Colombia
	Heliconia mucronata	Venezuela, NW Brazil
	Heliconia mutisiana	Colombia
	Heliconia nariniensis	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia necrobracteata	Panama
	Heliconia × nickeriensis	Suriname, French Guiana
	Heliconia nigripraefixa	Colombia, Ecuador, Panama
	Heliconia nitida	Colombia
	Heliconia nubigena	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia nutans	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia obscura	Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia obscuroides	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia oleosa	Colombia
	Heliconia ortotricha	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia osaensis	Colombia, Central America
	Heliconia paka	Fiji
	Heliconia paludigena	Ecuador
	Heliconia papuana	New Guinea
	Heliconia pardoi	Ecuador
	Heliconia pastazae	Ecuador
	Heliconia peckenpaughii	Napo
	Heliconia pendula	Guiana, Fr Guiana, NE Brazil
	Heliconia penduloides	Peru
	Heliconia peteriana	Ecuador
	Heliconia × plagiotropa	Ecuador
	Heliconia platystachys	NW South America, S Central America
	Heliconia pogonantha	NW South America, S Central America
	Heliconia pruinosa	Peru
	Heliconia pseudoaemygdiana	Rio de Janeiro
	Heliconia psittacorum	N South America, Panama, Trinidad
	Heliconia ramonensis	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia × rauliniana	Venezuela
	Heliconia regalis	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia reptans	Colombia
	Heliconia reticulata	NW South America, S Central America
	Heliconia revoluta	Colombia, Venezuela, NW Brazil
	Heliconia rhodantha	Colombia
	Heliconia richardiana	NE South America
	Heliconia rigida	Colombia
	Heliconia riopalenquensis	Ecuador
	Heliconia rivularis	São Paulo, Brazil
	Heliconia robertoi	Colombia
	Heliconia robusta	Peru, Bolivia
	Heliconia rodriguensis	Venezuela
	Heliconia rodriguezii	Costa Rica
	Heliconia rostrata	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
	Heliconia samperiana	Colombia
	Heliconia sanctae-martae	Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
	Heliconia sanctae-theresae	Antioquia
	Heliconia santaremensis	Pará
	Heliconia sarapiquensis	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia scarlatina	Colombia, Panama, Peru
	Heliconia schiedeana	Mexico
	Heliconia schumanniana	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, N Brazil
	Heliconia sclerotricha	Ecuador
	Heliconia secunda	Costa Rica, Nicaragua
	Heliconia sessilis	Panama
	Heliconia signa-hispanica	Colombia
	Heliconia solomonensis	Solomon Islands, Bismarck Archipelago
	Heliconia spathocircinata	South America, Panama, Trinidad
	Heliconia spiralis	Colombia
	Heliconia spissa	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia standleyi	Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia stella-maris	Colombia
	Heliconia stilesii	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia stricta	N South America
	Heliconia subulata	South America
	Heliconia tacarcunae	Panama
	Heliconia talamancana	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia tandayapensis	Ecuador
	Heliconia tenebrosa	Colombia, NE Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia terciopela	Colombia
	Heliconia thomasiana	Panama
	Heliconia timothei	NE Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia titanum	Colombia
	Heliconia tortuosa	S Mexico, Central America
	Heliconia trichocarpa	Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia
	Heliconia tridentata	Colombia
	Heliconia triflora	B Amazonas
	Heliconia umbrophila	Costa Rica
	Heliconia uxpanapensis	Veracruz
	Heliconia vaginalis	Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia vellerigera	Ecuador, Peru
	Heliconia velutina	Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, NW Brazil
	Heliconia venusta	Colombia, Ecuador
	Heliconia villosa	Venezuela
	Heliconia virginalis	Ecuador
	Heliconia wagneriana	Central America, N South America, Trinidad
	Heliconia willisiana	Pichincha
	Heliconia wilsonii	Costa Rica, Panama
	Heliconia xanthovillosa	Panama
	Heliconia zebrina	Peru

Distribution and habitat

Most of the 194 known species[3] are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku.[2] Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand.[5]
Ecology

Heliconias are an important food source for forest hummingbirds, especially the hermits (Phathornithinae), some of which – such as the rufous-breasted hermit (Glaucis hirsuta) – also use the plant for nesting. The Honduran white bat (Ectophylla alba) also lives in tents it makes from heliconia leaves.
Bats
Pollination

Although Heliconia are almost exclusively pollinated by hummingbirds, some bat pollination has been found to occur. Heliconia solomonensis is pollinated by the macroglosine bat (Melonycteris woodfordi) in the Solomon Islands. Heliconia solomonensis has green inflorescences and flowers that open at night, which is typical of bat pollinated plants. The macroglosine bat is the only known nocturnal pollinator of Heliconia solomonensis.[14]
Habitat

Many bats use Heliconia leaves for shelter. The Honduran white bat, Ectohylla alba, utilizes five species of Heliconia to make diurnal tent-shaped roosts. The bat cuts the side veins of the leaf extending from the midrib, causing the leaf to fold like a tent. This structure provides the bat with shelter from rain, sun, and predators. In addition, the stems of the Heliconia leaves are not strong enough to carry the weight of typical bat predators, so shaking of the leaf alerts roosting bats to presence of predators.[15] The bats Artibeus anderseni and A. phaeotis form tents from the leaves of Heliconia in the same manner as the Honduran white bat.[16] The neotropical disk-winged bat, Thyroptera tricolor, has suction disks on the wrists which allow it to cling to the smooth surfaces of the Heliconia leaves. This bat roosts head-up in the rolled young leaves of Heliconia plants.[17]
Insects

Heliconias provide shelter for a diverse range of insects within their young rolled leaves and water-filled floral bracts. Insects that inhabit the rolled leaves often feed upon the inner surfaces of the leaf, such as beetles of the family Chrysomelidae. In bracts containing small amounts of water, fly larvae and beetles are the dominant inhabitants. In bracts with greater quantities of water the typical inhabitants are mosquito larva. Insects living in the bracts often feed on the bract tissue, nectar of the flower, flower parts, other insects, microorganisms, or detritus in the water contained in the bract (Siefert 1982). Almost all species of Hispini beetles that use rolled leaves are obligate herbivores of plants of the order of Zingiberales, which includes Heliconia. These beetles live in and feed from the rolled leaf, the stems, the inflorescences, or the unfurled mature leaves of the Heliconia plant. In addition, these beetles deposit their eggs on the leaf surface, petioles of immature leaves, or in the bracts of the Heliconia.[18] Furthermore, some wasp species such as Polistes erythrocephalus build their nest on the protected underside of large leaves.[19]
Hummingbirds

Hummingbirds are the main pollinators of heliconia flowers in many locations. The concurrent diversification of hummingbird-pollinated taxa in the order Zingiberales and the hummingbird family (Trochilidae: Phaethorninae) starting 18 million years ago supports the idea that these radiations have influenced one another through evolutionary time.[20][21] At La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica, specific species of Heliconia were found to have specific hummingbird pollinators.[22] These hummingbirds can be organized into two different groups: hermits and non-hermits. Hermits are the subfamily Phaethornithinae, consisting of the genera Anopetia, Eutoxeres, Glaucis, Phaethornis, Ramphodon, and Threnetes.[23] Non-hermits are a catch-all group of other hummingbirds that often visit heliconias, comprising several clades (McGuire 2008). Hermits are generally traplining foragers; that is, individuals visit a repeated circuit of high-reward flowers instead of holding fixed territories[22][24] Non-hermits are territorial over their Heliconia clumps, causing greater self-pollination.[22] Hermits tend to have long curved bills while non-hermits tend to possess short straight bills, a morphological difference that likely spurred the divergence of these groups in the Miocene era.[25][26] Characteristics of Heliconia flowers that select for either hermit or non-hermit pollinator specificity are degree of self-compatibility, flowering phenology, nectar production, color, and shape of flower.[27][28][25] The hummingbird itself will choose the plants its feeds from on the basis of its beak shape, its perch on the plant, and its territory choice.[29]

Hummingbird visits to the Heliconia flower do not affect its production of nectar.[30] This may account for the flowers not having a consistent amount of nectar produced from flower to flower.

Different Heliconia species have different flowering seasons. This suggests that the species compete for pollinators. Many species of Heliconia, even the newly colonized species, are visited by many different pollinators.[31]
Cultivation

Several cultivars and hybrids have been selected for garden planting, including:

H. psittacorum × H. spathocircinata, both species of South America, mainly Brazil
H. × rauliniana = H. marginata (Venezuela) × H. bihai (Brazil)
H. chartacea cv. 'Sexy Pink'

Most commonly grown landscape Heliconia species include H. augusta, H. bihai, H. brasiliensis, H. caribaea, H. latispatha, H. pendula, H. psittacorum, H. rostrata, H. schiediana, and H. wagneriana.
Uses

Heliconias are grown for the florist's trade and as landscape plants. These plants do not grow well in cold, dry conditions. They are very drought intolerant, but can endure some soil flooding. Heliconias need an abundance of water, sunlight, and soils that are rich in humus in order to grow well. These flowers are grown in tropical regions all over the world as ornamental plants.[32] The flower of H. psittacorum (parrot heliconia) is especially distinctive, its greenish-yellow flowers with black spots and red bracts reminiscent of the bright plumage of parrots.
Heliconia in Lagos, Nigeria
Gallery

Heliconia rostrata in a botanical garden, Costa Rica

Heliconia wagneriana in Florida

Heliconia sp. in tropical rain forest at Sierra del Escambray, Cuba

Heliconia sp. in tropical rain forest at Sierra del Escambray, Cuba
Heliconia stricta (Dwarf Jamaican) leaf at a nursery on Maui

See also

National Tropical Botanical Garden, designated a conservation center by the Heliconia Society International

References

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x.
Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Christenhusz, M. J. M.; Byng, J. W. (2016). "The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase". Phytotaxa. Magnolia Press. 261 (3): 201–217. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1.
"Helliconia". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, genus Heliconia
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