Strelitzia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

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

Familia: Strelitziaceae
Genus: Strelitzia
Species: S. alba - S. caudata - S. juncea - S. nicolai - S. reginae

Nothospecies: S. × kewensis
Name

Strelitzia Banks, Icon.: t. Strelitzia reginae. 1788.

Type species: S. reginae Banks

References
Primary references

Aiton, W. 1789. Hortus Kewensis; or, a catalogue of the plants cultivated in the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. Vol. I. Monandria–Heptandria. XXX+496 pp., tt. 1–6. George Nicol, London. BHL Reference page. : 285., t. 2.
Banks, J. 1788. Strelitzia reginae (plate).

Additional references

Moore, H.E. jr. & Hyypio, P.A. 1970. Some comments on Strelitzia (Strelitziaceae). Baileya 17: 65–74.

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2019. Strelitzia in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2019 Nov. 15. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2009. Strelitzia. Published online. Accessed: 03 Mar 2009.

Vernacular names

Ελληνικά, Κυπριακά: Στρελίτζια, Πουλί του παραδείσου

English: Bird-of-paradise
suomi: Kolibrikukat
Nordfriisk: Strelitzien
italiano: Strelitzia
перем коми: Стрелиция
polski: Strelicja
русский: Стрелиция

Strelitzia /strɛˈlɪtsiə/[1] is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae.[2] The genus is named after Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom. A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower/plant, because of a resemblance of its flowers to birds-of-paradise. In South Africa it is commonly known as a crane flower and is featured on the reverse of the 50 cent coin. It is the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles; two of the species, Strelitzia nicolai and Strelitzia reginae, are frequently grown as house plants.[3]

Description

The species S. nicolai is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m tall, with stately white and blue flowers;[4] the other species typically reach 2 to 3.5 m tall, except S. caudata which is a tree of a typically smaller size than S. nicolai. The leaves are large, 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad, similar to a banana leaf in appearance but with a longer petiole, and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage. The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe.
Biology and propagation

They are pollinated by sunbirds, which use the spathe as a perch when visiting the flowers. The weight of the bird when standing on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird's feet, which is then deposited on the next flower it visits. Strelitzia lack natural insect pollinators; in areas without sunbirds, plants in this genus generally need hand pollination in order to successfully set seed.[5]
Species and hybrids

Five species are recognised, although one—Strelitzia juncea—has been shown to be genetically nested within another, Strelitzia reginae. It is possibly a mutation that is in the process of speciating.[6]

Image	Scientific name	Common Name	Native Distribution
	Strelitzia alba (syn. S. augusta)	White bird of paradise	Garden Route along the southernmost coastal regions of the Eastern and Western Cape in South Africa.
	Strelitzia caudata	Mountain strelitzia	Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe south to Mozambique, the Northern Provinces of South Africa and Swaziland
	Strelitzia nicolai	White bird of paradise or giant bird of paradise; wild banana; blue-and-white strelitzia[4]	Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe,and Eastern South Africa from the Great Fish River northwards to Richards Bay
	Strelitzia reginae (syn. S. parvifolia)	Strelitzia, bird of paradise, or crane lily	South Africa (the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal)
	Strelitzia juncea (Ker Gawl.) )	African desert banana[7]	South Africa near Uitenhage, Patensie and just north of Port Elizabeth

Strelitzia × kewensis (hybrid between S. reginae and S. augusta)

Allergenic potential

Plants in the genus Strelitzia produce no windborne pollen, and have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 1 (considered "allergy-fighting").[5]
Etymology

The genus was named by Joseph Banks in honour of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen consort of George III.[8][9]
Popular culture

The Strelitzia has been referred to in popular anime Darling in the Franxx as the Franxx which Zero Two pilots. The other Franxx also share this characteristic, being named after Argentea, Genista, Delphinium, and Chlorophytum. In the anime, Strelitzia has a white and yellow color scheme and resembles a girl. Streltzia appears larger than the other Franxx.

Journal

'Strelitzia' is also the name of the botanic journal of the Pretoria based National Botanical Institute.[10] Which was then converted into The South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The 'Strelitzia' journal replaced 'Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa' and 'Annals of the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens'.[11]

References

Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607, Sunset Books
"Tropical Flower Guide". Retrieved 30 November 2012.
"Our House Plants - Bird of Paradise". Retrieved 18 July 2014.
Eliovson, Sima (1981). Shrubs, trees, and climbers. Macmillan South Africa. ISBN 0-86954-011-4. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
Ogren, Thomas (2015). The Allergy-Fighting Garden. Berkeley, CA: Ten Speed Press. p. 200. ISBN 978-1-60774-491-7.
Cron, Glynis V.; Pirone, Cary; Bartlett, Madelaine; Kress, W. John; Specht, Chelsea (2012). "Phylogenetic Relationships and Evolution in the Strelitziaceae (Zingiberales)". Systematic Botany. 37 (3): 606–619. doi:10.1600/036364412X648562. S2CID 17046806.
Strelitzia juncae, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
"Strelitzia reginae Banks". Plants of the World Online. 2017. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
"Strelitzia reginae". pza.sanbi.org. August 2011. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
"Strelitzia". Strelitzia. 1994. Retrieved 22 August 2021.
"Strelitzia". SANBI. Retrieved 22 August 2021.