Description

Strelitzia reginae is one of the most famous horticultural perennials around the world. It flowers for long periods with its vivid orange and bright purple/blue inflorescences and is an ideal pot plant and cut flower subject.

The crane flower is a tufted, evergreen, acaulescent (stemless) perennial herb up to 1,5 m tall and 2 m in diameter. The roots are fleshy and finger-like and ± 25 mm in diameter. The leaves are distichous (opposite and arranged fan-like in one plane), banana-like with the leaf blade 500 x 100 mm, and the margins can sometimes be red-edged.

The inflorescence stalk is 700 mm tall with 4-6 flowers that emerge in succession in a boat-shaped spathe ± 200 mm long, producing a mucilaginous substance when in bloom. The flowers have orange sepals and blue/purple petals (May to December).

The fruit is a hard woody capsule that splits from the apex in summer (August to February). The seeds are round, black to brown with a yellow aril (a tuft of hairs).