Heliconia : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Heliconia / wallygrom
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
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| 説明 | In the gardens of Hotel Cariblue, Playa Cocles, near Puerto Viejo in Costa Rica.Snippets from Wikipedia -Heliconia, derived from the Greek word 'helikonios', is a genus of flowering plants in the Heliconiaceae.Most of the species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. Many species of Heliconia are found in rainforests or tropical wet forests of these regions. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand. Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, wild plantains or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers (Strelitzia). Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as heliconias.The Heliconia are a monophyletic genus in the family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas. However, the APG system of 1998, and its successor, the APG II system of 2003, confirm the Heliconiaceae as distinct and places them in the order Zingiberales, in the commelinid clade of monocots.These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 meters (1.5–15 feet) tall depending on the species. The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in-10 ft). They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on non-woody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly colored waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to Canna, Strelitzia, and bananas, to which they are related.The flowers can be hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, and are subtended by brightly colored bracts. The plants typically flower during the wet season. These bracts protect the flowers - the floral shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region.Heliconias are an important food source for forest hummingbirds, especially the hermits (Phathornithinae), some of which - such as the rufous-breasted hermit (Glaucis hirsuta) - also use the plant for nesting.Hummingbirds are the main pollinators of flowers in the genus Heliconia in many locations. At La Selva research station in Costa Rica it was found that specific species of Heliconia have specific hummingbird pollinators. These hummingbirds can be organized into two different groups: hermits and non-hermits. Hermits are a subfamily of Phaethornithinae, consisting of the genera Anopetia, Eutoxeres, Glaucis, Phaethornis, Raphodon, and Threnetes. Non-hermits are a paraphyletic group within the Trochilidae, comprising several clades. Hermits are generally traplining foragers, where individuals visit a repeated circuit of high-reward flowers instead of holding fixed territories. Non-hermits are territorial over their Heliconia clumps, causing greater self-pollination. Hermits tend to have long curved bills while non-hermits tend to possess short straight bills, a morphological difference that likely spurred the divergence of these groups in the Miocene era. Characteristics of Heliconia flowers that select for either hermit or non-hermit pollinator specificity are degree of self-compatibility, flowering phenology, nectar production, colour, and shape of flower. The hummingbird itself will choose the plants its feeds from based on its beak shape, its perch on the plant, and its territory choice.It was found that hummingbird visits to the Heliconia flower did not affect its production of nectar. This may account for the flowers not having a consistent amount of nectar produced from flower to flower.Different Heliconia species have different flowering seasons. This suggests that the species compete for pollinators. It was found that many species of Heliconia, even the newly colonized species, all had many pollinators visit.Many bats use Heliconia leaves for shelter. The Honduran white bat, Ectohylla alba, utilizes five species of Heliconia to make diurnal tent shaped roosts. The bat cuts the side veins of the leaf extending from the midrib causing the leaf to fold like a tent. This structure provides the bat with shelter from rain, sun, and predators. In addition, the stems of the Heliconia leaves are not strong enough to carry the weight of typical bat predators, so shaking of the leaf alerts roosting bats to presence of predators. The bats Artibeus anderseni and A. phaeotis form tents from the leaves of Heliconia in the same manner as the Hondurian white bat. The Neotropical disk-winged bat, Thyroptera tricolor, has suction disks on the wrists which allow it to cling to the smooth surfaces of the Heliconia leaves. This bat roosts head up in the rolled young leaves of Heliconia plants.Heliconias provide shelter for a diverse range of insects within their young rolled leaves and water-filled floral bracts. Insects that inhabit the rolled leaves often feed upon the inner surfaces of the leaf, such as beetles of the family Chrysomelidae. In bracts containing small amounts of water, fly larvae and beetles are the dominant inhabitants. In bracts with greater quantities of water the typical inhabitants are mosquito larva. Insects living in the bracts often feed on the bract tissue, nectar of the flower, flower parts, other insects, microorganisms, or detritus in the water contained in the bract. Almost all species of Hispinae beetles that use rolled leaves are obligate parasites of plants of the order of Zingiberales, which includes Heliconia. These beetles live in and feed from the rolled leaf, the stems, the inflorescences, or the unfurled mature leaves of the Heliconia plant. In addition, these beetles deposit their eggs on the leaf surface, petioles of immature leaves, or in the bracts of the Heliconia. Furthermore, some wasp species such as Polistes erythrocephalus build their nest on the protected underside of large leaves. |
| 撮影日 | 2013-01-10 07:48:38 |
| 撮影者 | wallygrom |
| タグ | |
| 撮影地 | Cocles, Limon, Costa Rica 地図 |
| カメラ | Canon PowerShot SX200 IS , Canon |
| 露出 | 0.033 sec (1/30) |
| 開放F値 | f/3.4 |
| 焦点距離 | 5 mm |