Very few plants command attention in your home and garden like the unusual and captivating bird-of-paradise plant. Nicknamed ...

The orange bird of paradise (Strelitzia reginae) is one of the most recognized tropical plants in our island plant palette.

A new analysis reveals that nearly half of the genus Heliconia, a group of tropical plants popular for their bright, beak-shaped flowers, are threatened with extinction.

Heliconia bella in Panama. This species was discovered and named by John Kress, an emeritus curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and one of the authors of the new study.

Here, the plants are important ecological resources ... Many Heliconia flowers resemble the striking plumage of birds-of-paradise. Others evoke lobster claws or toucan beaks.