Heliconias currently in cultivation

in Puerto Rico

Héctor Méndez Caratini

Secretary, Heliconia Society of Puerto Rico Assistant Editor, HSPR Newsletter

XVII International Conference 2012 Hotel Los Mandarinos, El Valle de Antón, Panamá

I have been actively collecting zingiberales for the past fourteen years. When I first started collecting (1998) there where very few heliconias under cultivation in Puerto Rico, and practically no costacaea.

Over the past decade, through the untiring dedication of various HSPR and HSI members, we now have over 250 different varieties of heliconias growing in the tropical Island of Puerto Rico.

We have established eight privately owned Heliconia Society International / Heliconia Society of Puerto Rico Conservation Centers, scattered over the entire region. I am the owner of one of these CCs.

In this presentation, I will be showing close to two hundred images of some (not all) of our heliconias. The vast majority of these photographs have been taken at my private farm. Others, at my friend’s CCs.

An official list, with the names of all the heliconias in cultivation in the Island, appeared in a previous HSPR Newsletter, Vol. 17, No. 1. (2012)

Some of our HSPR members are constantly striving to develop new varieties of heliconias. Many of them have sprung up spontaneously in their CCs, as seedling variations.

In nature, out in the wild jungles of the Amazon (and other places), there might be, for example, 100 square kilometers with only one or two varieties of heliconias growing, at the most.

By contrast, in our CC’s we might have over one hundred different varieties of heliconias growing side by side, literally touching each other, in only three acres of land. There is a greater possibility of cross breading and development of new cultivars

For instance, if I I want to get new varieties (from seeds) of H. caribaea, I would make sure that I have several, different colored heliconias, growing side by side, whose inflorescences bloom at the same time.

This notion applies to other varieties, as well. Such as possible crosses between erect ones with pendent ones.

Sexual reproduction (seeds), through cross pollination by visiting hummingbirds, birds, bats and insects is unavoidable. They are the main living organisms which pollinate the inflorescences.

This mode of promiscuous sexual reproduction accounts for the phenotype phenomenon. The phenotype phenomenon has universal effects on our heliconias. It helps to create new varieties which did not exist before.

I will be showing some examples of such new evolutionary variations in color and shapes.

Parent-of-origin effects generate phenotypes that depend on the direction of a cross. Various genetic mechanisms can contribute to parent-of origin effects during seed development.

I am not a scientist, but my hypothesis (based on visual observations at my CC) for parental effects in seed development is that when variations in color take place, as in the case of my very own H. caribaea cv. Portorricencis (a cross between H. caribaea cv. Prince of Darkness and H. caribaea cv. Yellow –the endemic caribaea found in Puerto Rico), the tendency of the bloom is to undergo color tone variations as it ages, until reaching the original color of the mother inflorescence, as the inflorescence matures and dies.

Therefore, this particular inflorescence might start with a yellowish color when young, and as it matures, turns orange, and finally, a deep dark purple when old.

Taking into account that certain heliconias are known by other different names, in other parts of the world, some of the names in this PPP, as well as on the 2012 HSPR Newsletter list, might be erroneous or repetitive. I apologize if a few of these heliconias might have erroneous names, due to varied circumstances.

Also, there might be slight variations in color (and shape) in the inflorescences, making up for new names; such as, in the case of the different varieties of H. orthotrichas and H. caribaeas growing in Puerto Rico (and elsewhere).

These anomalies make it more interesting, by opening up for discussion such variations, to be correctly named thereafter.

H. caribaea cv. Saint Lucia (Canaries Giant)

H. caribaea cv. Prince of Darkness H. caribaea cv. Yellow!

H. caribaea Prince of Darkness x caribaea Yellow cv. Portorricencis (various stages of maturation)!

H. caribaea Prince of Darkness x caribaea Yellow cv. Portorricencis (various stages of maturation)!

H. caribaea cv. Cream! H. caribaea cv. Springfield Estates

H. caribaea cv. Red! H. caribaea cv. Rubra!

H. caribaea cv. Bonnie Kline! H. caribaea cv. Bonnie Kline!

H. caribaea cv. Red Lightning ! H. caribaea cv. Painted Palette !

H. bihai x caribaea sp. !H. caribaea sp. !

H. bihai cv. Caribbean Sunset One H. bihai cv. Caribbean Sunset Four

H. bihai cv. Caribbean Sunset Two H. bihai cv. Caribbean Sunset Three

H. bihai cv. Emerald Forest! H. bihai cv. Five A.M.

H. bihai sp. H. bihai cv. Richmond Red!

H. bihai cv. Chocolate! H. Bihai cv. Yamakawa Chocolate!

H. bihai cv. Yellow Dancer H. bihai cv. Peachy Pink

H. bihai cv. Banana Split H. bihai cv. Burning Desire

H. bihai x caribaea cv. Big Red H. bihai cv. Giant Lobster Claw Surprise

H. bihai cv. Aurea Red H. bihai cv. Aurea

H. bihai cv. Aurea Sunrise

H. bihai x H. spathorcinata cv. Cinnamon Twist

H. bihai cv. Nappi

H. bihai x H. caribaea cv. Bubble Gum (seedling variation)

H. bihai x H. caribaea cv. Bubble Gum (seedling variation)

H. bihai x H. caribaea cv. Bubble Gum (seedling variation)

H. bihai x H. caribaea cv. Bubble Gum (seedling variation)

H. stricta cv. Canary Yellow H. stricta cv. Carli’s Sharonii

H. stricta cv. Quito Gold H. stricta cv. Dorado Gold

H. stricta cv. Yellow Queen H. stricta cv. Burning Desire

H. stricta cv. Slash and Burn H. stricta cv. Ruby Throated Canary

H. lennartiana H. stricta sp.

H. stricta cv. Sunrise H. stricta sp. Cochabamba

H. stricta cv. Mexican Yellow H. caribaea Yellow x

H. latispatha Mexican Gold cv. H. Siberia Lemon

H. imbricata x H. latispatha cv. José Abalo

H. imbricata x H. sarapiquensis cv. Harvey Bullis

H. bourgeana! H. champneiana cv. Maya Blood!

H. champneiana cv. Splash H. champneiana cv. Maya Gold

H. latispatha Mexican Gold x ? cv. Bleeding Heart (seedling variation)

H. collinsiana x H. latispatha cv. German’s Luck

H. wagneriana cv. Lady Lydia H. wagneriana cv. Darien

H. wagneriana cv. Rainbow H. wagneriana cv. Torbo

H. lingulata cv. Red Tip Fan H. lingulata cv. Yellow Fan

!!!!H. x nickeriensis (variegated) (H. marginata x H. psittacorum ) H. x nickeriensis (variegated leaf)

H. psittacorum x spathocircinata cv. H. Alan Carle H. Alan Carle (leaf)

H. reptans H. reptans (seeds)

H. tortuga H. mathiasiae

H. hirsuta cv. Chumaniana (basal) H. hirsuta cv. Chumaniana

H. velutina H. lasiorachis

H. aemygdiana ssp. Lavender Storm H. schiedeana

H. aristiguetai H. pseudoaemygdiana

H. sp. H. richardiana cv. Little Richard

H. gloriosa H. irrasa

H. bihai x H. rostrata cv. H. heidi H. rodriguensis

H. episcopalis Vellozo H. episcopalis Yellow Spear

H. orthotricha cv. Ruby Red H. orthotricha cv. Guacamayo

H. orthotricha cv. Terciopelo H. orthotricha cv. Colombian Orange

H. orthotricha cv. Velvet H. orthotricha cv. Yellow Base

H. orthotricha cv. She (Peru) H. orthotricha cv. She

H. orthotricha cv. El Tigre H. orthotricha cv. Imperial

H. orthothricha cv. Candy Cane H. orthotricha cv. Baby Pink

H. orthotricha cv. Bengal H. orthotricha cv. Kid Pink

H. orthotricha cv. Total Eclipse H. orthotricha cv. Edge of Night

H. orthotricha x H. stricta cv. Oriole Orange

H. orthotricha cv. Lehua

H. orthotricha x H. stricta cv. Orange (no fuzz)

H. stricta sp.

H. colgantea

H. griggsiana cv. Full Moon H. griggsiana cv. Angry Moon

H. griggsiana cv. Blue Moon H. griggsiana cv. Blue Moon

H. collinsiana var. collinsiana H. pendula cv. Red

H. bourgeana x H. collinsiana cv. Pedro Ortiz

H. x rauliana (H. bihai x H. marginata)

H. bihai cv. Lobster Claw One x H. rostrata cv. Puerto Rico Libre

H. sp.

H. chartacea cv. Meeana Yellow H. chartacea cv. Surinam Gold

H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink (green) H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink

H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink (green) H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink

H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink (San Rafael) H. chartacea cv. Sexy Pink (seedlings)!

H. chartacea cv. Columbine H. chartacea cv. Sexy Red (seedling variation)

H. chartacea cv. Sexy Scarlet H. platystachys cv. Sexy Orange

H. temptress H. trichocarpa

H. geraldesi H. dielsiana

H. curtispatha H. nigripraefixa

H. penduloides cv. Perfect Darling H. carmelae

H. marginata cv. Pittier H. pastazae (yellow rachis)

H. sclerotricha H. sp.

H. rio palenquensis H. rio palenquensis (seeds)

H. mutisiana H. mutisiana (seeds)

H. excelsa H. longuisima

H. rostrata cv Pink Peru H. rostrata cv. Ten Days

H. rostrata cv. Orange Flame H. rostrata

H. standleyi H. standleyi

H. episcopalis x H. standleyi cv. Flabellata

H. juruana

H. sp. H. sp.

H. pogonantha var. Pubens H. pogonantha var. Pubens

H. regalis cv. Barnum and Bailey H. ramonensis var. Lanuginosa

H. magnifica H. ramonensis var. Glabra

H. vellerigera cv. She Kong H. vellerigera cv. She Kong

H. vellerigera cv. Red Velvet H. vellerigera cv. Red Velvet

H. xanthovillosa cv. Shogun Jade H. xanthovillosa cv. Shogun Jade

Dedicated to the memory of Colito. Who cared for my Conservation Center for more than a decade and a half. May he rest in peace.

Copyright © 2012 Héctor Méndez Caratini All Rights Reserved