# Identify this Tropical Flower **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 3, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123 "2008-01-03T14:27:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/1 "2008-01-03T14:27:03Z")
Greetings from Aruba. I come to you with a query stemming from my dinner last night at a local restaurant. There was a highly unusual tropical flower on the center of all the tables in the restaurant and no one could identify it by its English name. My photos aren’t perfect, but I think they should be sufficient: [http://picasaweb.google.com/dynaprocr/Iphone](http://picasaweb.google.com/dynaprocr/Iphone) Many Thanks. –xiix– ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/2 "2008-01-03T14:29:44Z")
It’s a Bird Of Paradise flower - strelitzia > **[Strelitzia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strelitzia)** > > See text > Strelitzia /strɛˈlɪtsiə/ is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae. 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. It is the floral emblem of the City of Los Angeles and is featured on the revers... ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/3 "2008-01-03T14:31:37Z")
Actually, it might be a Heliconia - difficult to tell… ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/4 "2008-01-03T14:52:41Z")
Hmmmm… The red appear to be bracts, arranged in a symetrical spiral, with blue-ish tubular flowers between, so I don’t think Heliconia. It looks like a flower spike from a bromeliad-- perhaps Tillandsia or maybe a Billbergia… (Wiki picture, perhaps related to the OP, [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billbergia)) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/5 "2008-01-03T15:41:55Z")
[QUOTE=CannyDan] Hmmmm… The red appear to be bracts, arranged in a symetrical spiral, with blue-ish tubular flowers between, so I don’t think Heliconia. [/quote] The bracts don’t look fleshy enough for a bromeliad - in [this](http://picasaweb.google.com/dynaprocr/Iphone/photo#5151255079392674066) shot, for example, they look pretty papery and fibrous and are clearly boat-shaped sheaths (like Heliconia psittacorum). [http://www.montosogardens.com/heliconia\_psittacorum\_andromeda\_small.JPG](http://www.montosogardens.com/heliconia_psittacorum_andromeda_small.JPG) ---
**Author:** ![CannyDan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cannydan/32/548_2.png) [@CannyDan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CannyDan)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2008, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-tropical-flower/432123/6 "2008-01-03T20:12:49Z")
The bracts of Tillandsia and Billbergia are indeed thin and papery, as are those of a number of other bromeliads. You may be right, but I’m still thinking of something more (although not exactly) like [this](http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2436381460101783265EFMOou). Maybe I’ll have more time to look tomorrow…