STRELITZIA

STRELITZIA / BIRD OF PARADISE

LATIN NAME: STRELITZIA REGINAE

HOMELAND: SOUTH AFRICA

Long live the Queen Strelitzia

Perhaps what makes the Royal Botanic Gardens near London the world's largest botanical garden today is that this flower was named in honor of the Queen of England, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The story begins with Joseph Banks, who participated as a botanist on Captain James Cook's first expedition in 1768-1771. After his return, he was appointed as the head of the Royal Botanic Gardens, which was still across England at that time. Queen of England, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, known for her interest in natural sciences who was also a hobby botanist. Her interest in the Botanical Gardens increased after a visit to see the plants that Joseph Banks had just brought.

Joseph Banks persuades King George III of England to send teams to all corners of the Empire to bring new species to the Royal Botanic Gardens, possibly with the support of Queen Charlotte.

Teams sent across the empire are bringing a total of 30,000 plant species to the Royal Botanic Gardens. These ongoing works make the Royal Botanic Gardens the largest botanical gardens in the world, which today hosts 8.5 million plant species.

Joseph Banks, who gave the name of Latin Literature to 1400 plants, goes down in history as the Botanist who gave names to the most plants. One of these names was the plant, which was brought from South Africa as Bird of Paradise. Was named as a thank to Queen Charlotte for the support she gave to the Royal Botanic Gardens, with the Latin suffix for Strelitz, which denotes the city where Charlotte was born at the end of her Royal Title, and the Latin for the Queen. Adding the meaning Reginae, he named it “Strelitzia Reginae”.

In its homeland, South Africa, this flower is attributed to the bird of paradise, which is the most beautiful and can fly the highest, according to a local mythological story. The bird of paradise, which is complained to God by other animals for its arrogance that despises all other animals, is punished by God by turning it into a flower and imprisoning it in the ground.