Philodendron heleniae subsp. amazonense (aka heleniae 'Ecuagenera')

not known

heleniae = The species was first collected in 1970 by Jim Luteyn and Helen Kennedy in the vicinity of El Valle in Cocle Province, Panama. It is named in honor of one of the collectors, Helen Kennedy, who at the time worked for the Missouri Botanical Garden as the Curator of Summit Herbarium.

Usually hemiepiphytic, rarely terrestrial; climbing tendrils or clinging; along the Pacific coast and adjacent lowlands, in wetland and riparian forests from sea level to 1250 m.

Philodendron heleniae subsp. amazonense is endemic to the Amazon basin ranging from Ecuador to Peru and Bolivia at elevations of 200 to 1000m in tropical moist and wet forest and premontane wet forest. It differs from Philodendron heleniae subsp. heleniae in having generally fewer inflorescences per axil, usually white rather than reddish spathes, smooth rather than coarsely pustular lower blade surfaces, and the near lack of secretory cells in mature leaves.