Description[edit]

The species S. nicolai is the largest in the genus, reaching 10 m (33 ft) tall, with stately white and blue flowers;^[6] 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[edit]

They are pollinated by sunbirds, 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.^[7]

Species and hybrids[edit]

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.^[8]

Image	Scientific name	Common name	Native distribution
	Strelitzia alba (syn. S. augusta)	White bird of paradise	Garden Route along the southernmost coastal regions of the Eastern and Western Capes in South Africa
	Strelitzia caudata	Mountain strelitzia	Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe south to Mozambique, the Northern Provinces of South Africa, and Eswatini
	Strelitzia nicolai	White bird of paradise or giant bird of paradise; wild banana; blue-and-white strelitzia[6]	Mozambique, Botswana, Zimbabwe,and Eastern South Africa from the Great Fish River northwards to Richards Bay
	Strelitzia reginae (syn. S. parvifolia)	Strelitzia, bird of paradise, or crane lily	South Africa (the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal)
	Strelitzia juncea (Ker Gawl.) )	African desert banana[9]	South Africa near Uitenhage, Patensie, and just north of Port Elizabeth