Strelitzia reginae

Strelitzia reginae, commonly known as the crane flower, bird of paradise, or isigude in Nguni, is a species of flowering plant native to the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. An evergreen perennial, it is widely cultivated for its dramatic flowers. In temperate areas it is a popular houseplant.

Taxonomy

Joseph Banks described the species in 1788. The specific epithet reginae means “of the queen”, and commemorates the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The common name “bird of paradise” is due to the resemblance of the open inflorescence to the display plumage and pose of certain species of bird-of-paradise, which bore the name first. The name "crane flower" is in comparison to the head and beak of a crowned crane.

A new subspecies was discovered growing alongside the Mzimvubu River in South Africa’s Eastern Cape in 2002. When wild-collected plants began to flower in the greenhouse at Kirstenbosch, they were noted to have white, rather than the typical blue inner petals. They also had a shorter stigma (10–15 millimetres (3⁄8–9⁄16 in) vs. 30 millimetres (1+3⁄16 in)) and subtle differences of the leaves. The new subspecies is called Strelitzia reginae subsp. mzimvubuensis.