'''''Heliconia psittacorum''''' ('''parrot's beak, parakeet flower, parrot's flower, parrot's plantain, false bird-of-paradise''') is a perennial herb native to the Caribbean and South America. It is considered native to French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, Venezuela, Colombia, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Panama and Trinidad and Tobago. It is reportedly naturalized in Gambia, Thailand, Puerto Rico, [[Hispaniola]], Jamaica and the [[Lesser Antilles]].<ref>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=248539 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Heliconia psittacorum'']</ref> It is often cultivated as a tropical [[ornamental plant]] in regions outside its native range.
Unlike most species of plants that require the use of pollinators for pollination the H. Psittacorum naturally prefers the absence of pollinators for pollination. In other words, it is well capable of pollinating itself, any use of pollinators can do more harm than good. The flower has both male parts (anthers) and female parts (stigma and pistil), also referred to as a monoecious angiosperm.<ref>[http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=HEPS2 PLANTS Profile for Heliconia psittacorum (Parakeetflower) USDA Plants]</ref><ref>{{GRIN | accessdate = 23 January 2018}}</ref><ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/411191#page/173/mode/1up Linnaeus, Carl von f. 1782. Supplementum Plantarum 158. ''Heliconia psittacorum'']</ref><ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/361685#page/312/mode/1up Aublet, Jean Baptiste Christophe Fusée. 1775. Histoire des Plantes de la Guiane Françoise 931, ''Musa humilis'']</ref><ref>Aristeguieta, Leandro. 1961. El Género ''Heliconia'' en Venezuela no. 16a, ''Heliconia psittacorum'' var. ''rhizomatosa''</ref>
