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{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}{{Automatic taxobox|image = Strelitzia_larger.jpg|taxon = Strelitzia! Image !! Scientific name !! Common name!! Native distribution

Joseph Banks>BanksHTTPS://POWO.SCIENCE.KEW.ORG/TAXON/URN:LSID:IPNI.ORG:NAMES:37365-1 >TITLE= STRELITZIA BANKS	DATE=N.D.	PUBLISHER=THE TRUSTEES OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS, KEW		AUTHOR=	WEBSITE=CATALOGUE OF LIFE	ACCESS-DATE=JULY 15, 2022, |subdivision_ranks = Species	#Species and hybrids>See text|type_species =Strelitzia reginae}}File:Strelitzia reginae MHNT.BOT.2009.13.52.jpg|thumb|S. reginae fruit capsules and seeds – MHNTMHNTStrelitzia {{IPAc-en|s|t|r|É›|ˈ|l|ɪ|t|s|i|É™}}Sunset Western Garden Book, 1995:606–607, Sunset Books is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae.WEB, Tropical Flower Guide,tropicalflowerguide.com/bird-of-paradise-tropical-flowers.html, 30 November 2012, A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower/plant, because of a resemblance of its flowers to birds-of-paradise. In South Africa, it is commonly known as a crane flower.Two of the species, S. nicolai and S. reginae, are frequently grown as houseplants.WEB, Our House Plants - Bird of Paradise,www.ourhouseplants.com/plants/strelitzia, 18 July 2014, It is the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles and is featured on the reverse of the South African 50-cent coin. Taxonomy The genus was named by Joseph Banks in honour of the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.WEB, 2017, Strelitzia reginae Banks,powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:798194-1, Plants of the World Online, en, 27 May 2021, WEB, August 2011, Strelitzia reginae,pza.sanbi.org/strelitzia-reginae, pza.sanbi.org, 27 May 2021, Description The species S. nicolai is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m (33 ft) tall, with stately white and blue flowers;BOOK, Eliovson, Sima, Shrubs, trees, and climbers, 1981,books.google.com/books?id=6Yg_AAAAYAAJ&q=strelitzia+nicolai, 12 September 2009, Macmillan South Africa, 0-86954-011-4, the other species typically reach 2.0 to 3.5 m tall, except S. caudata, which is a tree of a typically smaller size than S. nicolai.The leaves are large, 30–200 cm long and 10–80 cm broad, 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 flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe. Biology and propagation They are pollinated by sunbirds and blue-faced honeyeaters, which perch on and drink from the spathe. The weight of the bird when standing on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird’s feet, which is then deposited on the next spathe it visits. Strelitzia species lack natural insect pollinators; in areas without sunbirds, plants in this genus generally need hand pollination to successfully set seed.BOOK, Ogren, Thomas, The Allergy-Fighting Garden, 2015, Ten Speed Press, Berkeley, CA, 978-1-60774-491-7, 200, Species and hybrids Five species are recognised, although one—S. juncea—has been shown to be genetically nested within another, S. reginae. It is possibly a mutation that is in the process of speciating.JOURNAL, Cron, Glynis V., Cary, Pirone, Madelaine, Bartlett, W. John, Kress, Chelsea, Specht, Phylogenetic Relationships and Evolution in the Strelitziaceae (Zingiberales), Systematic Botany, 2012, 37, 3, 606–619, 10.1600/036364412X648562, 17046806, {| class=“wikitable”
120px)	Strelitzia alba (synonym (taxonomy)	S. augusta) >		Garden Route along the southernmost coastal regions of the Eastern Cape>Eastern and Western Capes in South Africa
120px)	Strelitzia caudata	Mountain strelitzia	Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe south to Mozambique, the Northern Provinces of South Africa, and Eswatini
120px)	Strelitzia nicolai	White bird of paradise or giant bird of paradise; wild banana; blue-and-white strelitzia	Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe,and Eastern South Africa from the Great Fish River northwards to Richards Bay
120px)	Strelitzia reginae (syn. S. parvifolia)	Strelitzia, bird of paradise, or crane lily	South Africa (the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal)
120px)	Strelitzia juncea (Ker Gawl.)	African desert bananaStrelitzia juncae, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew	South Africa near Uitenhage, Patensie, and just north of Port Elizabeth

• Strelitzia × kewensis (artificial hybrid between S. reginae and S. augusta)

Allergenicity

Plants in the genus Strelitzia produce no wind-borne pollen, and have an OPALS allergy scale rating of 1, meaning a very low risk of causing allergic reaction.

Journal

Strelitzia is also the name of the botanic journal of the Pretoria-based National Botanical Institute,BOOK, Strelitzia.,www.worldcat.org/oclc/478273483, Strelitzia., 22 August 2021, English, 1994, 478273483, which has since been converted into the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). The Strelitzia journal replaced Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa and ’Annals of the Kirstenbosch Botanic Gardens.WEB, Strelitzia,www.sanbi.org/biodiversity/science-into-policy-action/biodiversity-information-management/sanbi-graphics-editing/strelitzia/, SANBI, 22 August 2021,

References

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External links

• {{Commons category-inline|Strelitzia}}

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