Bird of Paradise flower, in Jeju

by John Hawkins
(Jeju Island, South Korea)

Bird of Paradise in Yeomiji Botanical Garden Jeju South Korea. The gardens were a wonderful place to enjoy the beauty as we slowly walked among the thousands of flowers.

Editors note:
John! Thank you for this submission. It is a beautiful example of the very strange flower. It is a highly sought after bloom in tropical art and oil paintings. So much so, there are now silk and plastic versions (that never come close) that are mass produced.

Here are some interesting facts about this plant:

The flowers are high above the foliage. Located on the tips of long stalks. The beak-like section of the flower is called the spathe. This is placed at a right angle of the stem. This makes the whole thing combined look like a birds head.

The spathe makes for a great perch for birds that land on the blossom, which in turn pollinate the flowers. The flowers, emerging one at a time from the spathe, consist of three brilliant orange petals and three purplish-blue petals. Two of the blue petals are joined together to form an arrow-like compartment that holds nectar. When birds perch to get at the nectar, the petals open to cover their feet in pollen. Pretty cool, right! Natures strange ways to propagate.

I hope this bird of paradise blossom will give someone the urge to grab their paints and brushes and have a go at a tropical style painting!

Best wishes, and thanks again for posting, am excited at the prospects of seeing more examples!

Delmus