Heliconia are monocots and belong to the order of Zingiberiflorae and the family Musaceae. They are related to the bananas and strelitzia, which are also commonly known as ¨Bird of Paradise Plants¨ and therefore many call the heliconia by that same name or ¨False Banana¨.
The genus Heliconia has around 100 species and calls tropical South East Asia and America its home.

In Ecuador you find 30 species ranging from the sub - tropical cloud forests of around 2000m to the lower tropical rainforest regions of the Amazon and coast.

Heliconia are easy to spot

	It is a large plant growing sometimes to 5 meters in height.
	The leaves are huge and similar to banana leaves.
	On a long stalk sit the colorful cover leaves, which can be purple, red, orange or yellow. Sometimes they hang down [like in picture] or come out upwards.
	The flowers are small, sitting at end and underneath the cover leaves as do the seeds, which are often colorful to attract birds.

Propagation is by way of  seeds which are often dispersed by birds and from new shoots coming out at the base of the plant.