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The convoluted history of the name Lisianthus

Common name: 

Latin name and synonyms: Helia Mart. (182-276)

Etymology: Helia might be named after the Greek word helios, meaning sun.

Species:   This genus has never been revised and is thought to include about 1-2 species. A revision is currently being prepared by Maria Fernanda Calio, Brazil.

Distribution:   Highlands of southeastern Brazil.

Habitat:  Wet grasslands, meadows, and savannas.

Characteristics:   Herbs, not branched. Leaves in basal rosette, obovate to spathulate. Inflorescence terminal, cymose, long-stalked. Flowers 5-merous, actinomorphic. Corolla salvershaped, white to yellow, tube narrow, lobes rounded, persistent in fruit. Calyx campanulate, lobes elliptic, rounded at apex.  Stamens inserted in corolla tube; pollen in tetrads. Stigma broadly bilamellate. Fruit medially dehiscent capsule.

Evolution and related plants:   Helia is the type genus of the tribe Helieae, but its precise position in the tribe is not yet known.  Presumably is belongs to the Symbolanthus clade of tribe Helieae, together with other tetrad-bearing gentians such as Chelonanthus, Symbolanthus, and Calolisianthus.

Economic uses:  None known.

Notes: 

Accepted species (synonyms in parenthesis) and their distribution:

References and publications: 

Struwe, L., J. W. Kadereit, J. Klackenberg, S. Nilsson, M. Thiv, K. B. von Hagen, & V. A. Albert. 2002. Systematics, character evolution, and biogeography of Gentianaceae, including a new tribal and subtribal classification. Pp. 21-309. In: L. Struwe & V. A. Albert (eds.), Gentianaceae: Systematics and Natural History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

©Lena Struwe, 2004