Information About Exotic Tropical Flowers

Hibiscus flowers bloom in tropical Hawaii.

Tropical flowers are the most colorful and most unusual in the world. The warm, humid climate fosters diversity and accelerates plant evolution. Some flowers have developed so that only a single insect can reach its pollen. Plants in dense tropical forests find ways to reach the sunlight by wrapping around trees, living off the soil or on the nutrients of tree branches and leaves.

Hibiscus

Hibiscus are flowers with petals of bright yellow, orange or red. They grow on shrubs or small trees with oblong leaves that have rough undersides. The flowers grow at the tips of branches and have a series of bracts beneath the bud which attach to the base of the petals forming a star shape in contrasting colors. Hibiscus are native to Hawaii where the subspecies Hibiscus brackenridgei--a bright yellow bloom with a deep red center--is the state flower and an endangered species. Essences of the flower are said to help digestion and act as an astringent.

Bougainvillea

Originally discovered in Brazil, Bougainvillea is found throughout South America. It is a thorny, woody vine that can grow up to 40 feet tall as it winds around other plants to reach sunlight. Its flowers are bright hues of pink, purples, red, orange, yellow or white. Although bougainvillea is an evergreen, it can shed leaves in a dry year as a survival strategy.

Orchids

Orchids are the most diverse plant in the world with more than 20,000 known species. All share the basic form, having three sepals and three petals, with the lower petal slightly different than the rest. Many orchids are epiphytes or aerial plants and grow on branches and tree trunks in the forest canopy. Instead of reaping nutrients from the soil, they take them from the tree itself.

Heliconias

Heliconia grow 9 to 15 inches long.

Spread throughout Central and South America, as well as the Pacific islands, is an odd shaped plant nicknamed lobster-claw. Heliconia, as it is properly known, earned this nickname because its shiny thick leaves, resemble the cetacean's hooked claw. These claw-leaves hang one over the other, hiding flowers inside where only specialized pollinators can reach them. Its 40 species can be colored red, pink, orange or yellow. It is common from lowland to cloud forests and has become popular in gardens around the world.

Gingers

The cascading clusters of ginger make the entire plant look like a flower. But the true flower is only the white bud at the top. The feathery clusters have given Red Ginger, a native of Malaysia, the nickname Ostrich Plume. It now grows in Central America, Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

References

• Tropical Flowers
• Learning About Rainforests
• Amazon Rainforest Flora

Resources

• National Tropical Botanical Garden