ヘリコニア・ロスタラータ

1月16日（土）快晴

ヘリコニアは南米と南太平洋が原産で、バナナや極楽鳥花などと同じ仲間。花の形がオウムの嘴に似ているので、和名はオウムバナ。実はオウムの嘴の部分は苞で、その先端から顔を出しているのが本当の花。鳥媒花ですが止まり木がないので南米ではホバリングができるハチドリ、豪州では太陽鳥が花粉を運びます。花が終わった後も赤い苞が長期間眺められるので、公園や花壇に多用されます。

太陽鳥

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Heliconia Rostrata
Sat. January : fine

Heliconias are originally from South America and South Pacific and the members of banana and paradise bird flower family. The flowers look like the beaks of the parrots so they are called “parrot flowers” in Japan. Actually, the parts that look like parrots’ beaks are the bracts and the parts that come out from the points are the flowers. As they are the bird flowers with no roosts the humming birds carry the pollens that can hover in South America and the sunbirds carry them in Australia. You can see the red bracts for a long period of time after blooming, so they are often planted in the parks or the home flower beds.

sun bird