A young girl holding a hanging Heliconia rostrata flower cluster with red-and-yellow bracts

Heliconia rostrata

Native to western South America, this perennial herb grows from underground rhizomes in wet tropical habitats. Its long, hanging flower clusters bear red bracts with broad yellow margins near their tips. The bracts shelter small yellow flowers, followed by blue fruits when ripe. Widely cultivated as a tropical ornamental, it is also known as patujú in Bolivia, where it shares national-flower status with the kantuta. Photographed in Pereira, Colombia.

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Hanging Heliconia rostrata flower clusters among large leaves split along their veins

Hanging Heliconia rostrata red and yellow panicles

A red Heliconia rostrata bract changing to yellow towards its tip with a yellow flower

Hanging Heliconia rostrata cluster with red bracts, yellow margins and small pale flowers

Hanging Heliconia rostrata flower cluster with red-and-yellow bracts among green foliage

Hanging Heliconia rostrata flower clusters beneath long green leaves split into strips

Hanging Heliconia rostrata red and yellow inflorescences

Overlapping red Heliconia rostrata bracts with yellow margins and small yellow flowers

Pale yellow Heliconia rostrata flower beneath a red-and-yellow bract with water droplets and small ants

Yellow Heliconia rostrata flower projecting beneath a narrow red-and-yellow bract