Heliconia


Heliconia, derived from the Greek word Ἑλικώνιος, is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. 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. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand. Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, toucan beak, wild plantains or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers. Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as heliconias.

Description

These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 meters tall depending on the species. The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm. They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on non-woody 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.

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. droopy. They also look like lobster claws.

Flower

The flowers produce ample nectar that attracts pollinators, most prevalent of which are hummingbirds.

Seeds

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

Taxonomy

Heliconia is the only genus in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas. 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.

Species

Species accepted by Kew Botanic Gardens
ImageScientific nameDistribution
Heliconia abaloiColombia
Heliconia acuminataSouth America
Heliconia adflexaS Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras
Heliconia aemygdianaSouth America
Heliconia albicostaCosta Rica
Heliconia angelicaEcuador
Heliconia angustaSE Brazil
Heliconia apparicioiEcuador, Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia arrectaColombia
Heliconia atratensisColombia
Heliconia atropurpureaColombia, Panama, Costa Rica
Heliconia aurantiacaS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia auriculataBahia
Heliconia badilloiColombia
Heliconia barryanaChiriquí
Heliconia beckneriCosta Rica
Heliconia bellaPanama
Heliconia berguidoiE Panama-
Heliconia berrizianaColombia
Heliconia berryiNapo, Ecuador
Heliconia bihaiWest Indies, N South America
Heliconia bourgaeanaS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia brachyanthaPanama, Colombia, Venezuela
Heliconia brenneriEcuador
Heliconia burleanaColombia, Ecuador, Peru
Heliconia caltheaphyllaCosta Rica
Heliconia caquetensisColombia
Heliconia carajaensisPará-
Heliconia caribaeaWest Indies
Heliconia carmelaeColombia
Heliconia chartaceaN South America
Heliconia chrysocraspedaColombia
Heliconia clinophilaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia colganteaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia collinsianaS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia combinataColombia
Heliconia cordataColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia crassaGuatemala
Heliconia cristataPanama-
Heliconia cucullataCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia curtispathaColombia, Ecuador, Central America
Heliconia danielsianaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia darienensisColombia, Panama-
Heliconia dasyanthaSuriname, French Guiana
Heliconia densifloraTrinidad, N South America
Heliconia dielsianaNW South America
Heliconia donstoneaColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia episcopalisSouth America
Heliconia estheraeColombia-
Heliconia estiletioidesColombia
Heliconia excelsaNapo
Heliconia farinosaSE Brazil, NE Argentina
Heliconia faunorumPanama
Heliconia fernandeziiAntioquia, Colombia
Heliconia × flabellataEcuador
Heliconia foreroiColombia
Heliconia fragilisColombia
Heliconia fredberryanaImbabura
Heliconia fugaxPeru
Heliconia gaiborianaLos Ríos
Heliconia giganteaColombia
Heliconia gloriosaPeru
Heliconia gracilisCosta Rica
Heliconia griggsianaColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia harlingiiEcuador
Heliconia hirsutaCentral + South America, Trinidad
Heliconia holmquistianaColombia
Heliconia huilensisColombia
Heliconia ignescensCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia imbricataCosta Rica, Panama, Colombia
Heliconia impudicaEcuador
Heliconia indicaPapuasia, Maluku
Heliconia intermediaColombia
Heliconia irrasaCosta Rica, Panama, Nicaragua
Heliconia julianiiN South America
Heliconia juruanaEcuador, Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia kautzkianaEspírito Santo
Heliconia lanataSolomon Islands
Heliconia lankesteriCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia lasiorachisColombia, Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia latispathafrom S Mexico to Peru
Heliconia laufaoSamoa
Heliconia laxaColombia
Heliconia lentiginosaAntioquia
Heliconia librataS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia lingulataPeru, Bolivia
Heliconia litanaImbabura
Heliconia longifloraColombia, Ecuador, Central America
Heliconia longissimaColombia
Heliconia lophocarpaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia lourteigiaeSouth America
Heliconia lozanoiColombia
Heliconia luciaeB Amazonas
Heliconia luteaPanama
Heliconia luteoviridisColombia
Heliconia lutheriEcuador
Heliconia maculataPanama
Heliconia magnificaPanama
Heliconia × mantenensisMinas Gerais
Heliconia marginataN South America, S Central America
Heliconia mariaeNW South America, Central America
Heliconia markianaEcuador
Heliconia marthiasiaeS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia meridensisColombia, Venezuela
Heliconia metallicaN South America, Central America
Heliconia monteverdensisCosta Rica
Heliconia mooreanaGuerrero
Heliconia mucilaginaColombia
Heliconia mucronataVenezuela, NW Brazil
Heliconia mutisianaColombia
Heliconia nariniensisColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia necrobracteataPanama
Heliconia × nickeriensisSuriname, French Guiana
Heliconia nigripraefixaColombia, Ecuador, Panama
Heliconia nitidaColombia
Heliconia nubigenaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia nutansCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia obscuraEcuador, Peru
Heliconia obscuroidesColombia, Ecuador, Peru
Heliconia oleosaColombia
Heliconia ortotrichaColombia, Ecuador, Peru
Heliconia osaensisColombia, Central America
Heliconia pakaFiji
Heliconia paludigenaEcuador
Heliconia papuanaNew Guinea
Heliconia pardoiEcuador
Heliconia pastazaeEcuador
Heliconia peckenpaughiiNapo
Heliconia pendulaGuiana, Fr Guiana, NE Brazil
Heliconia penduloidesPeru
Heliconia peterianaEcuador
Heliconia × plagiotropaEcuador
Heliconia platystachysNW South America, S Central America
Heliconia pogonanthaNW South America, S Central America
Heliconia pruinosaPeru
Heliconia pseudoaemygdianaRio de Janeiro
Heliconia psittacorumN South America, Panama, Trinidad
Heliconia ramonensisCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia × raulinianaVenezuela
Heliconia regalisColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia reptansColombia
Heliconia reticulataNW South America, S Central America
Heliconia revolutaColombia, Venezuela, NW Brazil
Heliconia rhodanthaColombia
Heliconia richardianaNE South America
Heliconia rigidaColombia
Heliconia riopalenquensisEcuador
Heliconia rivularisSão Paulo, Brazil
Heliconia robertoiColombia
Heliconia robustaPeru, Bolivia
Heliconia rodriguensisVenezuela
Heliconia rodrigueziiCosta Rica
Heliconia rostrataColombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
Heliconia samperianaColombia
Heliconia sanctae-martaeSierra Nevada de Santa Marta
Heliconia sanctae-theresaeAntioquia
Heliconia santaremensisPará
Heliconia sarapiquensisCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia scarlatinaColombia, Panama, Peru
Heliconia schiedeanaMexico
Heliconia schumannianaColombia, Ecuador, Peru, N Brazil
Heliconia sclerotrichaEcuador
Heliconia secundaCosta Rica, Nicaragua
Heliconia sessilisPanama
Heliconia signa-hispanicaColombia
Heliconia solomonensisSolomon Islands, Bismarck Archipelago
Heliconia spathocircinataSouth America, Panama, Trinidad
Heliconia spiralisColombia
Heliconia spissaS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia standleyiEcuador, Peru
Heliconia stella-marisColombia
Heliconia stilesiiCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia strictaN South America
Heliconia subulataSouth America
Heliconia tacarcunaePanama
Heliconia talamancanaCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia tandayapensisEcuador
Heliconia tenebrosaColombia, NE Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia terciopelaColombia
Heliconia thomasianaPanama
Heliconia timotheiNE Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia titanumColombia
Heliconia tortuosaS Mexico, Central America
Heliconia trichocarpaCosta Rica, Panama, Colombia
Heliconia tridentataColombia
Heliconia trifloraB Amazonas
Heliconia umbrophilaCosta Rica
Heliconia uxpanapensisVeracruz
Heliconia vaginalisCosta Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador
Heliconia vellerigeraEcuador, Peru
Heliconia velutinaColombia, Ecuador, Peru, NW Brazil
Heliconia venustaColombia, Ecuador
Heliconia villosaVenezuela
Heliconia virginalisEcuador
Heliconia wagnerianaCentral America, N South America, Trinidad
Heliconia willisianaPichincha
Heliconia wilsoniiCosta Rica, Panama
Heliconia xanthovillosaPanama
Heliconia zebrinaPeru

Distribution and habitat

Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. 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.

Ecology

Heliconias are an important food source for forest hummingbirds, especially the hermits, some of which - such as the rufous-breasted hermit - also use the plant for nesting. The Honduran white bat 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 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.

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. The bats Artibeus anderseni and A. phaeotis form tents from the leaves of Heliconia in the same manner as the Honduran white bat. 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.

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. 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. Furthermore, some wasp species such as Polistes erythrocephalus build their nest on the protected underside of large leaves.

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 starting 18 million years ago supports the idea that these radiations have influenced one another through evolutionary time. At La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica, specific species of Heliconia were found to have specific hummingbird pollinators. 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. Non-hermits are a catch-all group of other hummingbirds that often visit heliconias, comprising several clades. Hermits are generally traplining foragers; that is, individuals visit a repeated circuit of high-reward flowers instead of holding fixed territories Non-hermits are territorial over their Heliconia clumps, causing greater self-pollination. 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. 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. 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.
Hummingbird visits to the Heliconia flower do not affect its production of nectar. 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.

Cultivation

Several cultivars and hybrids have been selected for garden planting, including:
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. The flower of H. psittacorum is especially distinctive, its greenish-yellow flowers with black spots and red bracts reminiscent of the bright plumage of parrots.

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