We found this weird Stellaria up in the central plateau a while back. We didn’t really notice it was weird at first. We just kinda went ‘it’s a Stellaria, it’s probably just S. multiflora‘ and then moved along looking for what we were there looking for. Which was a Senecio and some Carex. Anyways, I took some photos, because it was really cute and planned to just ID it later.
Turns out, that Stellaria multiflora (both subspecies) don’t actually have flowers. Well they do, but they don’t. They don’t have petals. Of course there is always the disclaimer that they can sometimes have petals, but if they do they are teeny tiny and not like the petals like you see in the image below. So it’s probably not multiflora. But then it could be… maybe another subspecies? Maybe a hybrid with another Stellaria, such as S. angustifolia which grows nearby? Maybe it is a vegetatively different form of another species, maybe it’s a weed, maybe it’s some weird mutation, maybe, maybe, maybe…
It needs more investigation to answer all the maybes. Investigation with direction and assistance from botanical wizards at the herbarium and the seed bank. Which is where I decided to spend my Day Ten this week, going through all the specimens which are stored in the vault. The maybes never got answered of course, because answering maybes takes time. There is a lot to learn about taxonomy, species, differences and similarities, which traits are important, which ones aren’t, variability between species and of course… how difficult it can all be.
Taxonomy and systematics is pretty fascinating. I’ve been going down a bit of a rabbit hole lately, watching random lectures online from various universities across the world, flicking through various taxonomy books. Learning about the difficulties of our desire to put things into boxes which probably don’t really lend well to being put in boxes. Which is pretty much most of the biological world. It doesn’t stop us from trying though, even though it’s a bit of a futile exercise at times, it is also important.
In order to protect and conserve the things, we need to know what they are. It helps us to direct our efforts and resources. And knowing what they are, involves the need to put them in a box. It would be much easier if we just decided to protect and conserve everything, then it wouldn’t matter as much. Of course, that isn’t going to happen, because… humanity… But that is another subject for another time… Of course there are many other reasons why it is important to know what things are, one of which is just because it is super interesting and helps us understand our world and how things got to be what they are!
Stellaria…
Back to Stellaria, because let’s face it, who doesn’t love Stellaria. I love Stellaria, but then I pretty much love every plant, they are all my favourite. Except Allocasuarina. And no, I do not have an answer to why I don’t love Allocasuarina. Although, I did have a strange rambling conversation with James yesterday, where I found myself saying that I don’t mind A. monilifera and could maybe even tolerate A. zephyrea. Perhaps because they aren’t as offensive as A. verticillata and A.littoralis. Who knows. Maybe I had just spent too long in the herbarium, deprived of sunlight. I’m not ready yet to confront these strange thoughts, so for now, I think I will pretend that conversation never happened.
We have six native Stellaria, that is counting the subspecies, and about two or three introduced ones. You will know them for sure, because you probably have an introduced one in your garden. I certainly do, bucket loads of Stellaria media, weedy as all hell. You might know it as chickweed, which is its common name. I believe that is also a common name for a whole bunch of other weeds too. Hence why common names are rather pointless (I will never change, don’t even try).
They are all little annual (or perennial) herbaceous plants which can be found in a range of different habitats, from low lying woodlands to sub alpine rock screes. Majority have five white petals, which are split to varying degrees to appear as though they have ten. Some have slightly bigger flowers than others, and some, like S. multiflora which we have already talked about, have none. Depending on your level of attention to detail in small little plants which look like weeds, they effectively all look similar, but with differences.
If you would like to delve into the world of Stellaria in Australia, then Cathy Miller and Judy West did a revision of the species in 2012 – You can read it here – A Revision of the genus Stellaria (Caryophyllaceae) in Australia
Another Day Ten Wrap
That’s all for another Day Ten spent relaxing and learning new things from wonderful humans. I even went and had lunch with Greg, who was my honours supervisor, plant science lecturer, and, during covid, also served as my mental health regulator. I’m very lucky to have such wonderfully amazing people in my life. They start out as being just people you learn things off, then end up being friends who you still learn things off and they help make life enjoyable. But most importantly, you can be yourself with, no matter what weird shit comes out of your mouth, because no matter how hard you try, a lot of times you just speak before you think. I should add here, that that also applies to my ‘work place’ which I put in inverted commas (I think they are inverted commas, I don’t actually know what to call them’, because it is technically work, but because I love it so much and love being there I feel calling it work is a bit offensive to it…
That’s actually all this time. Unless you want to read about the last Day Ten – Woodvine Wandering | Day Ten
Looks like I need to find some Stellaria on Bruny to get you over here!
Let’s plan a spring quest!