Heliconia wagneriana

Originally from Central America but now widely cultivated throughout the tropics for its outrageous, almost unbelievable flowers. Flowers that are in fact not flowers in the true sense but highly modified leaves and bracts in the shape of lobster claws and with varying shades of lurid scarlet red, crimson, pink and yellowing towards the stem and a green-tinged edge neatly highlighting the whole package. One of the world's most dramatic and regal floral displays. Incredibly rare in New Zealand, this plant is for the lucky few who have a heated greenhouse.