Tropical Plant Database - Plant Details

The flowers of this species are actually highly modified leaves and bracts in the shapes of a lobster claws. Heliconia wagneriana has a height of 5' to 15' and a long blooming season from January to September. The bracts are somewhat variable, bright red areas cover most of the cheek and it is surrounded by pale green along the lip keel and tip with yellow areas at the base. Foliage is banana like with waxy white coating on stems and lower midrib.

Heliconias have become increasingly popular as decorative flowers, especially in those regions where they cannot be grown in the garden.
Heliconia are grown for their beautiful, brilliant colorful flowering bracts. They require bright light and are heavy feeders of any well balanced fertilizer.
(Kepler, A. K. 1999. Exotic Tropicals of Hawaii.)

Heliconia wagneriana is widely cultivated throughout Central America.

In the American Tropics, hummingbirds are the exclusive polinators of red, yellow , pink and orange heliconias while nectar feeding bats are the polinators of green heliconias.
(Kepler, A. K. 1999. Exotic Tropicals of Hawaii.)

Although Heliconias flourish in the humid lowland tropics at elevations below 1500 feet, surprisingly, the greatest number of species are found in middle elevation rain and cloud forest habitats. The most remarkable members of the genus inhabit open sites in secondary growth along roads, riverbanks and in patches of light in the forest.
(Kepler, A. K. 1999. Exotic Tropicals of Hawaii.)

We currently have 2 herbarium specimens for Heliconia wagneriana in our collection. Click on any specimen below to view the herbarium sheet data.

• 008614 - collected by W. J. Kress in 1990
• 008608 - collected by W. J. Kress in 1990