Heliconia lingulata

Native to Peru and Bolivia, this large perennial herb grows from underground rhizomes in moist tropical forests. Leafy shoots can reach more than fifteen feet tall and carry long, pointed, oblong leaves. Upright flowering structures have a yellow, slightly wavy axis and numerous long, tongue-shaped bracts arranged in two rows. The bracts become shorter toward the top. Clusters of yellow tubular flowers open successively within them, followed by rounded blue fruits containing one to three seeds. It can be propagated by division. Photographed in Peru.