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 (39 Ma) and are the oldest known clade of hummingbird-pollinated plants.
Description These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species.
Leaves 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 non-woody 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 Heliconia is the only genus in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. The genus was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas (e.g. Musa, Ensete and so on). In 1998 the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group recognised the family Heliconiaceae in the APG system, and included it in the order Zingiberales as a sister family to Musaceae. This position is maintained in the most recent review of the APG system, APG IV, published in 2016.
Etymology The generic name Heliconia was given by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 from the Greek word Helikṓnios from Helikṓn after Mount Helicon in Boeotia, central Greece.
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
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 (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 macroglossine 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. This bat is the only known nocturnal pollinator of Heliconia solomonensis.
Habitat