Common Name:

General Information

Heliconia indica is an erect, coarse, perennial plant, superficially resembling a banana, growing up to 2 metres or more tall. The plant forms a dense clump of stems (or more correctly pseudostems) from a rhizomatous rootstock. Each stem is comprised of tightly rolled leaf sheaths. The oblong leaves can be up to 2 - 3 metres long[, ].
The plant is harvested from the wild for local use as a food, medicine and source of materials. It is occasionally cultivated or protected, in rural and home gardens[]. The plant is often grown as an ornamental, valued for its beautiful, coloured foliage, it has flowers with overlapping, scarlet and yellow or greenish bracts; and yellow fruits[, ].

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

Range

Southeast Asia - Indonesia to New Guinea and the southwestern Pacific.

Habitat

Common in dense forests, secondary forests, fallow, and garden areas[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Medicinal Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Perennial
Height	2.00 m
Pollinators	Bats, Birds
Cultivation Status	Cultivated, Ornamental, Semi-cultivated, Wild

Cultivation Details

Not known

Edible Uses

Flowers - cooked[]. Used as a famine food when better foods are not available[].

Medicinal

The pseudostems and heated leaves are used medicinally[].

Other Uses

The leaves are used as a thatch for making temporary shelters, they are also used to make umbrellas, make-shift sleeping mats, to cover earthen ovens, to wrap food for cooking, especially starchy puddings and a staple food in Vanuatu known as 'laplap'[].

A fibre obtained from the petiole and midrib is processed into tauanga, which is used to strain coconut oi[].

Propagation

Seed -

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