The northern part of the Chihuahuan Desert has long been home to the naturalized Yellow Bird of Paradise. This shrub has yellow flowers with bright red stamens that, extending far beyond the petals, add that dash of color that turns the flowers from pretty to eye-catching.
In recent years, another member of the same genus, the Red Bird of
Paradise, has been widely introduced as an ornamental shrub, and in parts of the
Sonoran Desert, appears to be naturalized in a few places. The Chihuahuan Desert,
however, seems to be just a bit too cold to expect naturalization, for the plant, a
native of the West Indies, is frost sensitive. This sensitivity to the cold is the
greatest drawback to the use of the Red Bird of Paradise as an ornamental in our
region. We can expect leaf-drop with the first good frost and, usually, freezing to the
ground. In a cold winter, some proportion of the plants succumb. The increasing
popularity is due entirely to the spectacular, almost fluorescent, deep red and orange
of the flowers. Magnificent!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
A flower cluster of the Red Bird of Paradise. Photograph by A.H. Harris.