Kingdom: Plantae
(Unranked): Angiosperms
(Unranked): Monocots
(Unranked): Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Strelitziaceae
Genus: Strelitzia
Species: S. nicholai
Binomial name: Strelitzia nicolai
Common names: Giant White Bird of Paradise, Wild Banana
Strelitzia nicolai is banana-like plants with erect woody stems reaching a height of 6 m and the clumps formed can spread as far as 3.5 m wide. This plant comes from South Africa.
The 1.8 m long leaves are grey-green and arranged like a fan at the top of the stems. The inflorescence is composed of a dark blue-black bract, white sepals and a bluish-purple "tongue". The entire flower can be as much as 18 cm high by 45 cm long and is typically held just above the point where the leaf fan emerges from the stem. The flower looks almost like the head of Cendrawasih bird and that’s why people call it Birds of Paradise. Flowers are followed by triangular seed capsules.
Photographed at Pukekura Park.
Photos were below taken on the Te Henui Walkway.
Photographed from Eastend Bowling Club
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and information: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
