Strelitzia Banks

Overview

Strelitzia belongs to the family Strelitziaceae; Kew gives its native range as southern Mozambique to South Africa. SANBI counts five species in southern Africa; those WCVP accepts are listed below.

The crane flower, S. reginae, is one of the most popular horticultural perennials in the world, flowering for long periods with vivid orange and purple-blue inflorescences that suit pots and cutting (SANBI). It grows wild only along the eastern coast of South Africa, from Humansdorp to northern KwaZulu-Natal, in coastal bush and thicket, often on sunny river banks.

Classification and characters

WCVP cites Banks’s Icones Strelitzia reginae (1788) as the place of publication. SANBI explains that the genus honours Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; the epithet reginae is Latin for “of the queen”.

SANBI describes the crane flower as a tufted, evergreen, stemless perennial up to 1.5 m tall and 2 m across, with fleshy finger-like roots and fan-arranged, banana-like leaves with blades about 50 × 10 cm. The 70 cm flower stalk ends in a boat-shaped spathe about 20 cm long from which four to six flowers emerge in succession, producing a mucilage as they open; the sepals are orange and the petals blue-purple. The plate above is from Curtis’s Botanical Magazine, plate 119 (1790).

Distribution

WCVP records the genus as native to 7 TDWG botanical regions and introduced in 11 more.

BotswanaCape ProvincesEswatiniKwaZulu-NatalMozambiqueNorthern ProvincesZimbabwe

Introduced

BangladeshComorosJuan Fernández Is.Mexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestNew South WalesQueenslandSicilia

Accepted species

WCVP accepts 6 species; names with × are natural hybrids. The count changes with revisions; checked 2026-10-24.

Historic plates

Plates in date order; the printed names are kept as they appear, current names are on the species pages and the topic page.

• 

  Strelitzia Reginæ

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 119 · 1790
  
• 

  Strelitzia reginae

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 120 · 1791
  
• 

  Strelitzia augusta

  Curtis's Botanical Magazine · 4167 · 1845
  Walter Hood Fitch, Joseph Swan

Cut-flower handling and safety

Floralife notes that tropical flowers are generally stored at 13–18 °C, but bird-of-paradise can go as low as 7 °C without chilling injury; humidity 75–85%, vase life 7–14 days, and low ethylene sensitivity. Harvest when the first flower emerges from the bract; flowers usually take three to five days to open after arrival, and stems cut too early may not open fully. Ship them dry with anti-fungal treatment; pulsing with a high-sugar solution after harvest extends shelf and vase life. Cut stems at a sharp angle; the heads are heavy, so use a strong foam; early wilting usually comes from poor water uptake, so check the stems and replace the flower food.

The ASPCA lists bird-of-paradise as toxic to dogs, cats and horses as a gastrointestinal irritant, causing mild nausea, vomiting and drowsiness, mainly from the fruit and seeds.

Further reading

• Flower guide
• Reference library

References

1. WCVP · World Checklist of Vascular Plants (via ChecklistBank dataset 2232) · accessed 2026-10-24
2. Kew (POWO data on the ColPlanta site) · Strelitzia native range
3. SANBI PlantZAfrica · Strelitzia reginae
4. Floralife · Bird of Paradise care and handling
5. ASPCA Animal Poison Control · Bird of Paradise Flower (Strelitzia reginae)