''Heliamphora ionasi'' is a species of marsh pitcher plant thought to be

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the plateau that lies between the bases of Ilu Tepui and Tramen Tepui in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

.McPherson, S. 2007. ''Pitcher Plants of the Americas''. The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company, Blacksburg, Virginia. It produces the largest pitchers in the

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

, which can be up to 50 cm in height. The species was discovered by a team led by

Bassett Maguire Bassett Maguire (August 4, 1904 – February 6, 1991) was an American botanist, head curator of the New York Botanical Garden, and a leader of scientific expeditions to the Guyana Highlands in Brazil and Venezuela. Life Maguire was born in Gadsde ...

and comprising, among others, Jonah Boyan. The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''ionasi'' is based on a Latinised form of Boyan's first name. A photograph by Maguire showing Boyan holding a specimen of ''H. ionasi'' was featured on the front cover of the September 1979 issue of the ''

Carnivorous Plant Newsletter The ''Carnivorous Plant Newsletter'' is the official publication of the International Carnivorous Plant Society (ICPS), the largest such organization in the world. It is headquartered in Walnut Creek, California. History and editorship The news ...

''. nonymous1979. Cover. ''

'' 8(3): 74.

Notes

:a.The specific epithet is commonly misspelled ''ionasii'' in most recent literature. The correct form of this commemorative epithet is ''ionasi''. This spelling is used consistently in Maguire's original description, as well as on herbarium sheets of the type specimens collected by Maguire on the William H. Phelps Jr. Expedition to Ilu Tepui in 1952.McPherson, S., A. Wistuba, A. Fleischmann & J. Nerz 2011. ''

Sarraceniaceae of South America ''Sarraceniaceae of South America'' is a monograph on the pitcher plants of the genus ''Heliamphora'' by Stewart McPherson, Andreas Wistuba, Andreas Fleischmann, and Joachim Nerz. It was published in September 2011 by Redfern Natural History Pro ...

''. Redfern Natural History Productions Ltd., Poole.

Notes

References

Further reading