Strelitzia juncea Andrews
African desert banana; Rush Bird of Paradise
16 photographs › At a glance
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Summary
Strelitzia juncea, the rush-leaved strelitzia or narrow-leaved bird of paradise, is a monocotyledonous flowering plant that is indigenous to South Africa. This drought-resistant Strelitzia occurs sparingly near Uitenhage, Patensie and just north of Port Elizabeth. It is the only Strelitzia species which typically lacks a lamina, or leaf blade. It also differs from Strelitzia reginae in having an inflorescence that is shorter than the leaves, while those of S. reginae are taller than the leaves. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strelitzia juncea", CC BY-SA 4.0.
About the genus · Strelitzia
Strelitzia is a genus of five species of perennial plant, native to South Africa. It belongs to the plant family Strelitziaceae. A common name of the genus is bird of paradise flower/plant, because of its likeness to the birds-of-paradise. More on Wikipedia ›
Quoted from Wikipedia, "Strelitzia", CC BY-SA 4.0.
Cultivation
Seasons
The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (407 mm of 540 mm) takes 8 months, October to April and August. Mean temperature moves 7.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; shifted six months for a northern-hemisphere collection: February and April to October.
Rain
540 mm in the median year at the habitat, 407 mm of it October to April and August. Wettest month March at 59 mm, driest month July at 31 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 479 mm to 724 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 525 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 540 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.
Light
Open sky over the habitat: 18 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 17, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).
Warmth and air
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 3.7 °C, the absolute minimum 0.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 41.0 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 9.1 °C in July (across the grid cells of the range 6.6 °C to 11.3 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 26.9 °C in February (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 3.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).
Relative humidity at the habitat: 54 to 62% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
How this section is made
Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.
Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -13 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.
Climate across the habitat
Habitat months, southern hemisphere
Mean daily high from 20 °C in Jun, Jul and Aug to 27 °C in Jan and Feb; mean nightly low from 9 °C in Jul to 18 °C in Feb. The cold quarter, Jun to Aug, is the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low. 540 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added), the wettest month Mar. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 10 habitat cells. Over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER) the absolute minimum was 0.5 °C and the 99th-percentile day 41.0 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.
Figures by month
| Figure | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 27 / 24–28 | 27 / 24–29 | 26 / 23–27 | 23 / 22–25 | 22 / 20–23 | 20 / 19–21 | 20 / 18–21 | 20 / 18–21 | 21 / 18–23 | 21 / 20–24 | 23 / 21–25 | 25 / 23–27 |
| Night °C | 17 / 16–18 | 18 / 16–19 | 16 / 15–18 | 14 / 13–16 | 12 / 10–14 | 10 / 7–12 | 9 / 7–11 | 10 / 8–12 | 11 / 9–13 | 13 / 11–14 | 14 / 12–16 | 16 / 14–17 |
| Rain mm | 48 / 43–54 | 42 / 39–44 | 59 / 52–63 | 44 / 41–58 | 34 / 25–70 | 36 / 23–82 | 31 / 25–71 | 53 / 39–87 | 32 / 28–53 | 55 / 52–68 | 57 / 54–63 | 49 / 43–53 |
| DLI | 45 / 44–47 | 40 / 39–41 | 33 / 33–34 | 26 / 25–27 | 20 / 20–21 | 18 / 17–18 | 19 / 18–20 | 24 / 23–24 | 31 / 30–31 | 37 / 36–38 | 43 / 42–44 | 46 / 45–47 |
| RH % | 60 / 59–63 | 62 / 60–64 | 62 / 60–64 | 60 / 59–62 | 57 / 56–58 | 54 / 53–55 | 54 / 53–55 | 57 / 55–58 | 59 / 57–61 | 59 / 59–62 | 60 / 59–62 | 60 / 59–63 |
How this section is made
Natural habitat
How this section is made
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Malte Krömer, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Andrew Hankey, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); Andrew massyn, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (3).
Related
Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.
Ceropegia thuretii Apocynaceae Photo: CC BY, Christiaan Viljoen
Gasteria pulchra Pretty Oxtongue Photo: CC BY, Ryan Somma
Eriospermum dregei Mini-antler Woolseed Photo: CC BY-SA, Andrew Hankey
Schotia latifolia Bush Boer-bean Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony Rebelo
Crassula lactea Tailor's patch Photo: CC BY, Christina
Abutilon sonneratianum Butter and cheese Photo: CC BY-SA, Nicola van BerkelOther Strelitzia 4 in the reference
Strelitzia alba Cape Mock Banana Photo: CC BY, Karen Eichholz
Strelitzia caudata Mountain Bird-of-Paradise Photo: CC BY, i_c_riddell
Strelitzia nicolai Bird-of-paradise tree Photo: CC BY, Mahomed Desai
Strelitzia reginae Bird-of-paradise Photo: CC BY, Lucas Christofides Names & registers
Also known as Strelitzia parvifolia var. juncea; Strelitzia principis; Strelitzia reginae subsp. juncea; Strelitzia reginae var. juncea; Strelitzia teretifolia. (GBIF Backbone)
The record
Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →
Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 0 records of GBIF's key 11320625, Strelitzia parvifolia var. juncea KerGawl. (Kew's file holds it as Strelitzia parvifolia var. juncea (Andrews) Ker Gawl. (synonym under Strelitzia juncea Andrews)): GBIF occurrence search API; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (5 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)climate answeredasked 2026-10-22climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -33.50_25.625, lapse-corrected -13 m at 6.5 °C/kmwikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22found by its label; its IPNI identifier 798181-1 is Kew's for Strelitzia juncea Andrewswikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22inat.photos.cultivated not askedgbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rulescommons answeredasked 2026-10-22openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshotEvery source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 4 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.