Strelitzia caudata

The Mountain Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia caudata ) is a plant of the genus Strelitzia (Strelitzia ) in the family of Strelitziaceae ( Strelitziaceae ). It is native to southern Africa.

• 4.1 Notes and references

Description

Appearance and leaves

Strelitzia caudata grows as a tree-like evergreen, perennial, herbaceous plant that reaches the stature heights of up to 6 meters. It forms, with its branched rhizomes dense, horst -like stands. The unbranched, slightly woody stem is marked with the leaf scars. The two lines in the distributed strain on old plants a kind of subjects forming only at the top of leaves are clearly divided into long petiole and leaf blade. Your simple, smooth-edged, oblong, about leathery, shiny green to greyish leaf blades have a length of up to 2 meters and a width of up to 60 centimeters. Leaf blades tear over time in the wind. Overall, they act as vegetative banana plants.

Inflorescences and flowers

Strelitzia caudata can bloom all year round. It is a pendent, upright inflorescence stem available. It's like Strelitzia alba a simple inflorescence available ( Strelitzia nicolai in contrast to the more partial inflorescences above the other ). A horizontal or slightly upward standing, eye-catching, large, dark, barge -like bract ( the so-called spathe ) contains some flowers.

The hermaphrodite flowers are zygomorphic and threefold. The three bracts are very different in the two circuits in shape and color. Of the three white bloom cladding of the outer circle (often called sepals = sepals ), the median smaller than the lateral, and has a slender appendages ( it refers to the specific epithet caudata ). Of the inner three always blue ( Strelitzia nicolai at, they are usually blue, very rarely white, in Strelitzia alba always white) bloom cladding (often called Pepalen = petals ) covers the upper entrance to the " nectar chamber "; the two large side have grown like an arrow and envelope the stylus and the five fertile stamens. Pollination is by birds.

Fruit and seeds

Are formed woody, dreifächerige capsule fruits that opens from its tip. The black, spherical seeds have a bright orange, woolly aril. Fruits may be present on the year.

Occurrence

Strelitzia caudata comes in southern Africa, of course, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Swaziland to the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe before. It thrives in cool, moist mountain forests and on rocky sites, which are rich in leaf litter. For example, it grows in woods on the south side of the Soutpansberg in Limpopo.

System

Strelitzia caudata was first described in 1946 by Robert Allen Dyer at Flowering Plants of Africa, Volume 25, Table 997. The specific epithet means caudata truant, this refers to an appendage of a sepal, which is found only in this species. At Moore & Hyypio 1970, Arnold & De Wet 1993 Germishuizen 2003, the nomenclature within the genus Strelitzia was discussed and it was listed no synonyms for this species name.

Swell

• Hamish Robertson: Strelitzia caudata at biodiversityexplorer - Iziko - Museums of Cape Town. (Section Description and dissemination )

• Braam Van Wyk & Piet Van Wyk Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa ( Field Guides ), Struik Publishers, 1997. ISBN 978-1868259229 (Strelitzia caudata on page 56)