Greek helos—marsh, amphoreus—jug.
Perennial herbs to small shrubs. Leaves borne either in a basal rosette or on leafy stems to several metres tall. Pitcher leaves may be up to 0.5 m long, tubular or jug-like, sometimes tinged red, the tip with a spoon-shaped lid. Flowers in clusters of 1-7 with their bracted stalks longer than the leaves. Sepals 5(5-6), petal-like, white or pink. Petals absent. Stamens 10-20. Ovary with 3 chambers. Style with 3-4 lobes.
The common name presumed derived from a confusion of the generic name with the Greek helios-sun.
At the time of writing 3 hybrids were known: H. heterodoxa × H. ionasii, H. heterodoxa × H. minor and H. heterodoxa × H. nutans.
A genus generally considered ancestral to Sarracenia and Darlingtonia. The species are extremely variable and this is reflected in the complicated classification with several varieties and forms recognised, most of which are also cultivated: H. heterodoxa Steyerm. has var. exappendiculata f. glabella and var. heterodoxa while H. tatei Gleason has var. tatei f. macdonaldae; var. tatei f. tatei; var. neblinae and var. neblinae f. parva.
Seed division or tissue culture.
Flowers several per stalk.
5 closely related species from the Venezuelan Guayanan Highlands.
Steyermark (1984).
Source: (1997). Sarraceniaceae. In: . Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.
