Over 200 species of Heliconia in Central and South America, only three are found outside this region, in Solomon Islands and somewhere in Africa, and in this places those heliconias are not colorful as in the big majority found in tropical Americas, but green, and this is because in these places there are no hummingbirds, so Heliconias are bat pollinated, and bats need no colors in order to find their target.
All this profusion of color in what we think is a flower really comes from modified leaves also known as bracts, this modification of leaves into colorful and hard-tissue apparatus, plays the same function as in petals in roses, which is to advertise like in a billboard: "Please Mr Hummingbird come to drink nectar so I´l be pollinated". Such strategy may be related to the heavy rain that quickly destroys petals in this environment, all these bracts are long lasting, and if you observe carefully, you will probably find the tiny cream-colored tiny flowers hidden inside de bract.
Ready for a heliconia related shore excursion in Port Limón?
