Wild Plantain

Description

Heliconia vaginalis is a species of plant inthe heliconia family (Heliconiaceae). It is distributed from Costa Rica to Colombia. Heliconia vaginalis is a slender to clumsy, evergreen, perennial, herbaceous plant, vegetatively similar to a ginger or canna plant and growing to a height of 2 to 5 meters. There are eight to ten leaves per shoot. The longest leaf per shoot is up to 90 centimeters long and 17 centimeters wide. The up to 21 centimeters long inflorescences are upright, each inflorescence has five to eight bracts arranged in a spiral. Each whorl consists of eight to nineteen resupinate flowers, the perianth is glabrous and yellow, green towards the extreme end. Heliconia vaginalis is found from Costa Rica to Colombia and northwestern Ecuador.