Heliconia stricta is a species of flowering plant in the family Heliconiaceae. It is native to Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Guyana, Suriname, reproducing by seeds and by underground rhizomes. It is reportedly naturalized in Cuba and Puerto Rico, and cultivated as an ornamental in many other warm regions.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, Heliconia strictaHuber, Jacob E. 1906. Boletim do Museo Goeldi de Historia Natural e Ethnographia. Belém. 4: 543, Heliconia strictaAndersson, L. 1981. Revision of Heliconia sect. Heliconia (Musaceae). Nordic Journal of Botany 1(6): 759–784. The young leaves and bracts retain water, forming pools called phytotelmata, which provide habitat for diverse invertebrates.Jalinsky, J., T.A. Radocy, R. Wertenberger, & C.S. Chaboo. 2014. Insect diversity in phytotelmata habitats of two host plants, Heliconia stricta Huber (Heliconiaceae) and Calathea lutea Schult (Marantaceae) in the south-east Amazon of Peru. Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 87(3): 299–311.
Some common cultivated varieties are:http Stokes Tropicals, Lafayette, Louisiana USA, Heliconia stricta 'Firebird' National Tropical Botanical Garden, Koloa Hawai'i USA, Meet the Plants, Heliconia stricta Lobster Claw Red Bucky Dwarf Jamaican Fire Bird Iris Bannochie Oliveira's Sharonii Tagami
References
External links Heliconia stricta observations on iNaturalist