Heliconia
Heliconia is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. 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 in Indonesia. 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 plantain, or false bird-of-paradise; the last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers in the genus Strelitzia. Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as "heliconias".
Heliconia originated in the Late Eocene and are the oldest known clade of hummingbird-pollinated plants.
Description
These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m tall, depending on the species.Leaves
The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm. 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. The leaves in different positions on the plant have a different absorption potential of sunlight for photosynthesis when exposed to different degrees of sunlight. They also look like lobster claws.Flower
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.The flowers' shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region. They also produce ample nectar that attract these birds.
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
The generic name Heliconia was given by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 from the Greek word Ἑλικώνιος Helikṓnios from Ἑλικών Helikṓn after Mount Helicon in Boeotia, central Greece.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| 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 | |
| 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 orthotricha | 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 |