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Hello everybody, Recently, I've been obsessed by all the tepuis Heliamphoras grow at and started to collect Heliamphora clones from different tepuis to collect them all one day. But I noticed something strange to me. In numerous articles I read about tepuis I haven't come across the name Apacapa tepui, which was strange, as it is my favourite location of H.exappendiculata. When I googled specifically "Apacapa" tepui I only got results showing web pages of sellers (like Wistuba) and grower that all have their plants labelled "Apacapa tepui", no literature or scientific articles at all. When you look at some of the online sources listing tepuis that support Heliaphora, like Distribution of Heliamphora or Heliamphora: the various ranges and tepuis, none of them lists "Apacapa tepui". There are two similarly named tepuis that are part of the Chimantá Massif where H.exappendiculata grows though - Apacará tepui and Abacapá tepui. I started to think that "Apacapa" must be a typo of one of those tepuis. Then I found the only literature on the internet that mentions Apacapa tepui - it is the Heliamphora exappendiculata description published in Carnivorous Plant Newsletter, available here. In the part of the article called "Specimens examined" there are, among others, mentioned herbarium specimens from both "Apacapa tepui" (Apacapa-tepui, 2125-2300 m, 13.04.1953 Steyermark No. 74888 (VEN, K)) and Apacará tepui (Apacara-tepui, 1900 m, 08.07.1946, Cardona No. 51648 (VEN)). This put Apacará out of the game and I thought that Apacapa is a typo of the right name Abacapá. In the above-mentioned article, there is a picture - a scan of one herbarium specimen provided by the New York Botanical Garden. So I checked the website of the New York Botanical Garden and found out it has a virtual herbarium (which is amazing btw)! So I searched for the herbarium specimen from that article (Apacapa-tepui, 2125-2300 m, 13.04.1953 Steyermark No. 74888 (VEN, K) and found the answer - the correct location of that specimen is Abacapá tepui. You can check for yourself Heliamphora exappendiculata (Maguire & Steyerm.) Nerz & Wistuba. That means that Apacapa tepui is, indeed, a typo of Abacapá tepui, at least in that article. So, unless Apacapa is a new tepui, that is not mentioned anywhere in the literature, to me "Apacapa" does not exist and all the plants in cultivation localised as "Apacapa" should be re-labelled to "Abacapá". It doesn't make a huge difference really, but what is the point of providing location information when it's adressing a non-existent place :) I tried to reach the authors via e-mail but so far without any more details on this topic. If you happen to know anything related to this, please, join the discussion :) Pavel Vrana

Our last day on Amuri. We had high expectations - reach that gorge where the "new" Heliamphora should grow, and of course find it there! So we started early in the morning, the plan was: without bigger stops ;-) OK, no way around these H. pulchella ... A first group, nicely coloured and shaped: Especially beautiful in backlight: At some spots the plants got really dark. I do not really believe in a variety or such of its own, because transitions were smooth. Anyway, here a very dark plant - even the newest, recently opened pitcher is already dark red. Very noble looking plant: A beautiful Heliamphora island with some quite dark plants: But now to the other species. This time we reached the gorge early, and found a way in. And were soon successful. First the plant that later on should get the name H. uncinata. Typical feature is the spiked nectar hood: In the gorge the light situation was different to the open meadows: weak, diffuse light. The plant is adapted to these conditions: large, green pitchers without red pigmentation or hairs inside (that are mostly for UV protection) The red dots are nectar glands. The plants grew directly on the vertical walls: a bit closer: Next to it: H. exappendiculata, with its just tiny nectar spoons embedded in the tip of the pitcher: So we had found all three species! Not sure if in between there are other species described for Amuri? But I am sure that H. pulchella will stay the queen for me The gorge had a very special atmosphere - and brought us some more fantastic discoveries. I will show you some more pictures in Part V. But to end this part, one more H. pulchella we found on our way back to the camp. Maybe the most beautiful? Andreas and Holger at work - Anja lets the gentlemen go first A closer view: and two close-ups: That's for Heliamphora on Amuri. Hope to see you in the Heliamphora gorge - part V and last of this series (see the linked square buttuns below for navigation through this series). regards Martin