The brightly coloured parts of the flower are in fact leaf-like bracts around the base of the flowers rather than the petals. The pink and green bracts on the upright stems shown in these pictures are typical of Heliconia psittacornis “Sassy” and are easy to distinguish from the Heliconia mariae x pogonantha shown in the previous post which had hanging or pendant flower heads with red bracts.
In common with the bromeliad plants, heliconias often collect water in the hollows created by the bracts against the stems, These little pools become micro-habitats in which minute aquatic organisms can thrive.
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