Helanthium bolivianum(Rusby) Lehtonen & Myllys

Bolivian burhead

WFO wfo-0000835695 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Andrés Ramírez-Barrera
fig. a Andrés Ramírez-Barrera, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-01-02 / obs. 110689722
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Andrés Ramírez-Barrera
fig. b Andrés Ramírez-Barrera, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 110689548
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. c Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173313816
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Hugo Hulsberg
fig. d Hugo Hulsberg, CC0 1.0 / obs. 173313901
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. e Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 42867145
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. f Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 42867193
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. g Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 42867225
Helanthium bolivianum, photographed by Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin
fig. h Edson Luis Fabro Gasperin, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 42867266

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 24 botanical countries

Regions where Helanthium bolivianum is native: Mexico Southeast, Argentina Northeast, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Venezuela Mexico SoutheastArgentina NortheastBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralColombiaCosta RicaDominican RepublicEcuadorEl SalvadorGuatemalaGuyanaHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoVenezuela Netherlands Antilles
Native distribution of Helanthium bolivianum, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
El Salvador ELS
Guatemala GUA
Guyana GUY
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Netherlands Antilles NLA
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Venezuela VEN
Mexico Southeast MXT NORTHERN AMERICA

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 15 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Alisma bolivianum Rusby
  • Alisma tenellum f. latifolium Seub.
  • Echinodorus angustifolius Rataj
  • Echinodorus australis Rataj
  • Echinodorus austroamericanus Rataj
  • Echinodorus bolivianus (Rusby) Holm-Niels.
  • Echinodorus isthmicus Fassett
  • Echinodorus latifolius (Seub.) Rataj
  • Echinodorus magdalenensis Fassett
  • Echinodorus quadricostatus Fassett
  • Echinodorus quadricostatus var. magdalenensis (Fassett) Rataj
  • Echinodorus quadricostatus var. xinguensis Rataj
  • Echinodorus tenellus f. apanecae Fassett
  • Echinodorus tenellus var. latifolius (Seub.) Fassett
  • Echinodorus xinguensis (Rataj) Rataj

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. USDA PLANTS Database. common name, checklist symbol ECBO4. public domain. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.