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The genus Strelitzia contains five species from southern Africa. This species is the best known and most widely cultivated..It is best known for its showy flowers. Large orange and blue flowers emerge upright from a heavy reddish green bract. Two blue petals are fused together and folded over the flower's reproductive structures. When these petals are pressed down, the anther with sticky pollen emerges from the fold. Bird of paradise produces relatively few seeds in nature. Early reports stated that sunbirds pollinated these flowers and this is widely repeated in literature. More recently, some scientists have theorized that the natural pollinator may be an extinct mammal.

In north Florida, it has survived temperatures in the upper teens F. Temperatures in the low to mid-20's will kill it to the ground and it will resprout in spring. Bird of paradise does not bloom reliably in north Florida unless it is protected overwinter.