TROPICAL HELICONIAS

The common names of Helicona's are such as lobster claw and parrot, essentially to flower reflect their beak-like shape. Helicona's are tall tropical flowers, often red, orange yellow and sometimes pink. The real flowers are tiny and inside the "beaks". Some less-common species may have furry beaks. Some forms have the beaks upright facing; some forms, called hanging heliconia, have flowers which dangle down from the main stem.

Heliconias make wonderful cut flowers giving any interior the warmth and feel of the tropics. The bracts - actually specially modified leaves - are shaped like an inverted bird’s beak and are 3 to 4 inches long. Each has a green outline surrounding a broad band of yellow which surrounds a central patch of bright red or orange. The true flowers, each of which remains open only one day, are small and insignificant in appearance and borne inside the boat-like bract.

Heliconias are seldom offered as plants in garden centers but are common as cut flowers when designers want a brash and bold look. The inflorescence is usually 18 to 24 inches long, so heliconia flower arrangements are most often used in hotel lobbies and other large spaces. Because the showy portion of the inflorescence is a bract, heliconia stems remain effective as cut flowers for two to three weeks.

Related Flowers : Hypericums Flowers Hemp Flowers Irises Flowers Houseleeks Flowers Kniphofias or Red Hot Pokers Flowers Hyacinths Flowers Leucospermums or Pincussions Proteas Flowers Irises Flowers Lilacs or Syringa Flowers Larkspurs Flowers