Strelitzia is a genus of five species of perennial plants, native to South Africa. The common name is the bird of paradise or crane flower, because of a supposed resemblance of its flowers to the bird of paradise.

The leaves are similar to a banana leaf in appearance and can be upto 5 feet long.

To show the wonders of nature ‘The flowers are produced in a horizontal inflorescence emerging from a stout spathe. They are pollinated by Sunbirds, which use the spathe as a perch when visiting the flowers; the weight of the bird on the spathe opens it to release the pollen onto the bird’s feet, which is then deposited on the next flower it visits.’

Resources

Growing Conservatory Flowers

Seeds available from Thompson & Morgan
Moonbells Allotment blog contains a diary of Strelitzia growing and provided these further links

	http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantqrs/strelitregmandelagold.htmThe Mandela´s Gold form, yellow petals not orange. Previously known as Kirstenbosch Gold. Also tells you how to hand-pollinate.
	http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantqrs/strelitziareginae.htm The main page for Strelitzia on PlantzAfrica
	http://finebushpeople.co.za/farmstore/catalog/accessorystore.htmSmoke primer disks – which I´ve got two of, but have yet to try out! See next entry for seeds.
	http://finebushpeople.co.za/cgi-bin/farmshop.pl?TP=Mandelas_Gold.html&ID=!ID!SEEDS!!!! Cheapest I´ve found so far… and legal to export to the EU.

 

Wikipedia
* Strelitzia alba (syn. S. augusta) – White bird of paradise;
* Strelitzia caudata – Mountain Strelitzia;
* Strelitzia nicolai – White or Giant bird of paradise; Wild banana; Blue-and-white Strelitzia[2]
* Strelitzia reginae (syn. S. parvifolia) – Strelitzia, Bird of paradise, or Crane lily;
* Strelitzia juncea (Ker Gawl.) – African desert banana. Cite.
* S. × kewensis (hybrid between S. reginae and S. augusta)