Heliconia solomonensis has green inflorescences and flowers that open at night, which is typical of bat pollinated plants.
Apply Clear Greens (29431) Multi-colors (2950) Whites. Heliconia solomonensis is pollinated by the macroglosine bat ( Melonycteris woodfordi) in the Solomon Islands. Apply Clear Not Relevant (6706) Roses/Pinks (4994) Violets/Purples (3335) Whites (3297) Mixes/Assortments (3102) Show More Foliage Color. The Honduran white bat ( Ectophylla alba) also lives in tents it makes from heliconia leaves.Īlthough Heliconia are almost exclusively pollinated by hummingbirds, some bat pollination has been found to occur. 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. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand. Many species of Heliconia are found in the tropical forests of these regions. 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. Species accepted by Kew Botanic Gardens ImageĬentral America, N South America, Trinidad The flowers produce ample nectar that attracts pollinators, most prevalent of which are hummingbirds. The leaves in different positions on the plant have a different absorption potential of sunlight for photosynthesis when exposed to different degrees of sunlight. Floral shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region. The flowers can be hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, and are subtended by brightly colored bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to Canna, Strelitzia, and bananas, to which they are related. 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. 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 simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in–10 ft).
These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species.
0 kommentar(er)
