Heliconia caribaea

Botanical Description

Heliconia caribaea is a large, evergreen perennial plant that looks rather like a banana plant. It produces a pseudostem 3 - 6 metres tall from a rhizomatous rootstock. The leaf stems are up to 2 metres long, the leaf blades oblong or elliptic-oblong, up to 1 metre long or more, 20 - 35cm wide[ 656 Title Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Publication Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 52 Author Acevedo-Rodríguez P. & Strong M.T. (Editors) Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Smithsonian Institution; Washington. Year 2005 ISBN 0097-1618 Description A treatment of the monocots and gymnosperms growing in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. The inflorescence are erect with short peduncle, 30 - 50cm long[ 656 Title Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands Publication Contributions from the United States National Herbarium. Vol. 52 Author Acevedo-Rodríguez P. & Strong M.T. (Editors) Website http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org Publisher Smithsonian Institution; Washington. Year 2005 ISBN 0097-1618 Description A treatment of the monocots and gymnosperms growing in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. It can be downloaded from the Internet. ]. The plant is harvested from the wild as a local source of food. It is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant in gardens.