The bracts subtend 3-9 flowers, on a 1,6-1,8 cm long pedicel, tubular, usually orange with dark green spot towards the apex, 3-5 cm long. The inflorescence, on a 15-55 cm long peduncle, is an erect 6-12 cm long terminal spike with slightly waved rachis, usually orange, and 3-7 alternate, lanceolate, concave, waxy, bracts, slightly spaced, red to bright orange red, at times pink or lilac, the basal one 8-15 cm long, the others progressively decreasing. The leaves, on an about 25 cm long petiole, are basal, alternate, simple, entire, elliptic-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate with pointed apex and prominent central nervation in the lower page, 35-55 cm long and 4-12 cm broad, of bright intense green colour above, paler below, and sheathing tubular foliar bases forming a pseudo-stem of about 2,5 cm of diameter. (1782) is an evergreen, perennial rhizomatous erect herbaceous species quickly forming 0,8-1,5 m tall dense tufts. The name of the genus comes from the Latin “Heliconius, a, um” = of the Helicon, mountain sacred to Apollo and to the Muses in the Greek mythology the name of the species is the plural genitive of the Latin substantive “psittacus” = parrot, with reference, after some, to the shape of the flowers recalling the beak of the parrots.Ĭommon names: false bird-of-paradise, golden torch, Japanese canna, parakeet heliconia, parrot’s beak, parrot’s flower, parrot plant (English) balisier bec de parroquet, héliconie des perroquets (French) helicônia-papagaio, caetê-tocha (Portuguese-Brazil) flor del papagayo, pico de loro (Spanish). The species is native to Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Federal District of Brasilia, Fernando de Noronha, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Roraima, Rondônia, São Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins and Trindade), Colombia, French Guyana, Guyana, Panama, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela where it grows in the humid forests, mainly in open areas or on the banks of water streams, from the level of the sea up to about 1500 m of altitude. Heliconia psittacorum botanical form with the typical inflorescence © Giuseppe Mazza
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