The Bird of Paradise

The Bird of Paradise belongs to the Strelitzia family and originated from South Africa. The leaves are usually large, from 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad.

The Bird Paradise with its distinctive head stem.

The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe. They are pollinated by sunbirds (nectar birds), which use the spathe as a perch when visiting the flowers.

The leaves shape is similar to a banana leaf in appearance but with a longer petiole, and arranged strictly in two ranks to form a fan-like crown of evergreen foliage.

The weight of the bird on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the Sunbird's feet, which is then deposited on the next flower it visits.