The Plant Press

From The Plant Press, Vol. 28, No. 2, July 2025.

Art by Alice Tangerini

Heliconia donstonea W.J.Kress & Betancur

Heliconia donstonea (Heliconiaceae) is a terrestrial herb with a restricted geographic range in the northwestern Andean montane forests. It is known from only four specimens collected from two populations—one population in Colombia and one in Ecuador. Heliconia donstonea was recently assessed as Endangered due to its narrow distribution, two unprotected populations, and no known individuals preserved in botanical gardens. This species is in a priority list of 45 species of Heliconia for protection, included in a new paper in Plants, People, Planet by W. John Kress, Tomáš Fér, Mónica M. Carlsen, and Gary A. Krupnick (2025). Alice Tangerini’s illustration of this species was drawn from unmounted pressed specimens collected by Kress and his team (including former research assistant, Cheryl Roesel) on an expedition to Nariño, Colombia in 1990. The drawing was completed in 1992 in pen and ink on drafting film. Dissections of the flower showed cutaway views inside the spathe and details of the ovary and pistil.