Strelitzia caudata

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

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 is one of three large banana-like Strelitzia species, all of which are native to southern Africa,[2] 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.[3][4]

Taxonomy

Strelitzia caudata was first described in 1946 by Robert Allen Dyer in Flowering Plants of Africa , Volume 25, Plate 997.[5][6] The specific epithet caudata means "with a slender tail";[7] this refers to an appendage of a sepal, which is prominent in this species.[6]

Habitat

It usually grows in dense clumps, in areas of montane forests and is found between rocks on steep grassy slopes.[4]

References

1. "World Checklist of Selected Plant Families: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew". apps.kew.org. Retrieved 2017-08-01.
2. "Strelitzia caudata R.A.Dyer". PlantZAfrica.com.
3. "Flora of Zimbabwe: Species information: Strelitzia caudata". www.zimbabweflora.co.zw. Retrieved 2022-03-17.
4. Van Wyk, Braam (1997). Field guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Struik. ISBN 1-86825-922-6.
5. "Strelitzia caudata". International Plant Names Index (IPNI). Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Harvard University Herbaria & Libraries; Australian National Botanic Gardens. Retrieved 24 October 2009.
6. Dyer, R.A. (1946). "Plate 997. Strelitzia caudata". The flowering plants of South Africa. 25. Retrieved 2024-05-29.
7. Hyam, R. & Pankhurst, R.J. (1995). "caudata". Plants and their names : a concise dictionary. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-19-866189-4.