Bird of Paradise

and A Bee

Bird of Paradise: photo by Cliff Hutson

Strelitzia reginae has been adopted as the official flower of the City of Los Angeles.  However, the plant, like so many of the people that live out here, is not native to Southern California. 

Bird of Paradise is from South Africa, but it is hard to imagine our landscape without it. I guess that the same goes for the honey bee. Its predecessors came from Europe, after a long, strange trip to California. The first of them did not appear in Los Angeles County until 1854 or 1855 (depending on your source). 

I think that it would be safe to say that most people are happy that both of these entities are well established and live amongst us.