Mountain strelitzia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Zingiberales
Family: Strelitziaceae
Genus: Strelitzia
Species:
S. caudata
Binomial name
Strelitzia caudata

Strelitzia caudata, commonly known as the mountain strelitzia or wild banana, is a species of banana-like Strelitzia from Africa from the Chimanimani Mountains of Zimbabwe south to Mozambique, the Northern Provinces of South Africa and Eswatini (Swaziland).[1] It was first described in 1946 by Robert Allen Dyer in Flowering Plants of Africa , Volume 25, Plate 997. The specific epithet caudata means "having a tail"; this refers to an appendage of a sepal, which occurs only in this species.[2][3] It is one of three large banana-like Strelitzia species, all of which are native to southern Africa,[4] the other two being S. alba and S. nicolai.

Description

Growing up to 8 metres tall, it has a leafless woody stem and has a fan shaped crown. The leaves are 2 by 0.6m, greyish-green in colour and are arranged in two vertical ranks. The seeds are black with a tuft of bright orange hairs.[5][6]

Habitat

It usually grows in dense clumps, in areas of montane forests and is found between rocks on steep grassy slopes.[6]

References

  1. ^ "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
  2. ^ Dyer, Robert Allen. 1946. Flowering Plants of Africa. A Magazine Containing Coloured Figures with Descriptions of the Flowering Plants Indigenous in Africa v 25, t. 997, Strelitzia caudata
  3. ^ "Strelitzia caudata". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
  4. ^ "Strelitzia caudata R.A.Dyer". PlantZAfrica.com.
  5. ^ "Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Strelitzia caudata". www.zimbabweflora.co.zw. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
  6. ^ a b Van Wyk, Braam (1997). Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik. ISBN 1-86825-922-6.


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