Heliconia, Bella Vista Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador.
Heliconia
Categories:
Tags:
11 Comments
About this Entry
This page contains a single entry by Matt Young published on December 7, 2009 12:00 PM.
Freshwater: Dec 3 & 4, 2009, sessions was the previous entry in this blog.
Freshwater: December 8, 2009 is the next entry in this blog.
Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.
Categories
- Announcements (7)
- Assault on Science (455)
- Bathroom Wall (13)
- Book Reviews (71)
- Conferences (24)
- Darwin's Finches (1)
- Designoids (9)
- Education and Legal (148)
- Eugenics (1)
- Evolution (667)
- Evolution Education (13)
- Expelled (69)
- Flyers/Pamphlets (3)
- Humor (151)
- ID/Creationism (97)
- Icons (2)
- Journal Club (32)
- Legal Issues (131)
- Manufactroversy (14)
- Medicine and Evolution (21)
- Metatalk (97)
- MustRead (7)
- News Roundup (29)
- Origin of new genes and new information (3)
- Prebiotic Chemistry (8)
- Question of the Day (6)
- Question of the Moment
- Quote of the Day (14)
- Religion and Politics (14)
- Research News (62)
- Resources for Biologists (23)
- Shoptalk (29)
- Slightly Off Topic (79)
- Steve Steve (71)
- Sticky (3)
- Their Own Words (20)
- Theological Issues with Intelligent Design (12)
- War on Science (47)
- What motivates creationism (23)
Sure looks like a relative of a bird of paradise flower - but it apparently isn’t. Bird of paradise is in the Strelitzia family, and heliconias include a “false bird-of-paradise.” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heliconia
Unless I recall incorrectly, the guide told us that this plant (which she did not identify) was an ancestor of the banana. That is apparently not so. According to Wikipedia, Heliconia used to be in the same family as the banana, but it is no longer. Who says there has not been enough time for evolution to take place?
I’m surprised that there wasn’t a gold-phase eyelash palm viper draped across the fruit.
It’s still too close for Comfort. ;-)
Good one, Frank J!
Funny, the reason I happened to click on this page was that, on my Safari browser’s “Top Sites” feature (which gives a preview in miniature, of the home page of one’s favorite sites), rather than flower blossoms, the picture appeared to show three Scarlet macaws (Ara macao) milling about on a branch. (Admittedly I wasn’t wearing my glasses when I glanced at the picture, but my (uncorrected) vision is not that bad.)
apparently that used to be a Louis Jordan song
That looks like the one in my front yard, but mine is orange and the fruits are not so big.
Heliconias are related to both birds-of-paradise and bananas! All three are families in the Zingiberales. The relationship of these families to each other is still rather unclear. It is certain, however, that heliconias comprise a monophyletic group of their own.
I did a few years of research on the evolutionary history of these buggers, so it was quite a surprise finding a picture here :).
Oh Heliconia! I think I have new favorite genus. I really love the pendula and vellerigera. These are both menacing and beautiful plants, in a simpler time I would have the mariae a suitable weapon.
-Jeffery Heap
It’s still too close for Comfort. ;-)
Update