Birds of Paradise Flowers

Birds of Paradise Flower Heliconia Golden Torch

Sunday 21 November 2010, I, Monique and Jettie went to the North Coast of Manokwari. We went hiking along the Asai river and after that visited the house of Mr. Munneke. When we were at the front yard of his house, I saw some nice flowers. One of them was birds of paradise flower. I did not know that this plant was named after the most beautiful paradise bird in New Guinea island. The color of these flowers is dominated by yellow. If we look them carefully, they really look like the male paradise bird that is opening his feather and wings while performing a courtship dance. Feeling attracted by this unique flower plants, I approached them and took some close up photographs.

Mr. Munneke grow these flowers at the front yard of his house to beautify his wooden house construction that stands on a slope facing the Pacific ocean. Besides planting the birds of paradise flowers, he also has various colors of hibiscus rosa sinensis around his house. The slope position makes all the surface of the land fully exposed to morning sunlight - an essential light for plants especially flowers to do the photosynthesis. Also its location that is so close to the coastal environment is an ideal place for tropical flowers to grow healthily. High humidity is important for tropical flowers to bloom well even in high temperature weather like what we experience in Manokwari regency. The North Coast area of Manokwari regency is not far from the equator. High rainfall is always accompanied by good sun light all year round.

When I am writing this short article, I haven't really known the exact species name of this birds of paradise flower. I made a number of keyword search in search engine Google to find the Latin name of this yellow flower. The physical appearance of the flowers is similar to the famous Strelitzia Reginae but actually the flower plant is called Heliconia Golden Torch. Both flower plants, if we look carefully, are different. Heliconia Golden Torch is also called Heliconia psittacorum Golden Girl. These flowers are popular in Indonesia as decorative plants that make the look of a house or a garden more beautiful. They are more beautiful to grow in open space in front of a house than when arranged inside a living room.

There are a lot of species of flowers that people grow in their home gardens in Manokwari city yet the business of selling flowers is still not a big industry. We need at least five to ten years before we can see serious florists provide same day flower delivery service to those who need the birds of paradise flowers for weeding reception or certain commercial exhibitions and business seminars.

People begin to notice that there is a growing need of fresh flower both cut or live plants in this city. When passenger ships from PELNI come from Java, flower traders bring new species of flowers into the city and try to sell them along the main road. When the ships leave Papua, the traders send Orchids to Java and other islands in western region of Indonesia. Beautiful Papuan tropical rainforest orchids are now being sold to big cities in Java such as Jakarta and Surabaya in high prices. To avoid the destruction of rainforest due to the hunting of these flowers in their natural habitat, flower traders and farmers need to work together to grow them in flower gardens so that the supply can still be continued sustainable for years and years to come.