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Bird of paradise

Bird of paradise

These striking flowers are some of the most conspicuous jewels of the cloud forest in the Henri Pittier National Park. These striking plants grow in the steep slopes of the coastal mountain chain, in the State of Aragua, in the sides of the roads to Ocumare or Choroní.

The Bird of Paradise is a Musaceae, of the botanical gender Heliconia, of the specie acuminata. The species is related to the Riquiriqui and the Platanillo and, of course, to the banana fruit varieties so craved by human beings.

The Heliconia acuminata or Bird of Paradise, is a slender plant, two or three meters high, with 25 cm long leaves, which grow opposed and alternate on their long stem. The inflorescences are erect, 40 cm long, with 6-8 bracts (modified leaves) of reddish color with a greenish base.

In the base of each one of these "espatas" fifteen four centimeters long flowers develop. These are orange in color, with a black stained dot near the tip. The fruits (not palatable for humans) are yellow, with their upper parts orange in color. According to the botanists, some thirty species of Heliconia, adorn with their flowers the cloud forest and wet jungles of Venezuela.

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