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The species is native to Bolivia, Brazil (Acre, Alagoas, Amapá, Amazonas, Bahia, Ceará, Espírito Santo, Federal District of Brasilia, Fernando de Noronha, Goiás, Maranhão, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Pará, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Piauí, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Norte, Roraima, Rondônia, São Paulo, Sergipe, Tocantins and Trindade), Colombia, French Guyana, Guyana, Panama, Surinam, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela where it grows in the humid forests, mainly in open areas or on the banks of water streams, from the level of the sea up to about 1500 m of altitude.
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Heliconia psittacorum botanical form with the typical inflorescence © Giuseppe Mazza
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