Hooghly Today : Stellaria media (L.) Vill.? or Stellaria media var. media ?

[surajit koley]

Sir,

Both GRIN and The Plant List list Stellaria media (L.) Vill.

The Plant List also lists Stellaria media var. media, one of its synonym is Stellaria monogyna D. Don.

But, neither GRIN nor The Plant List describes a plant (do they?).

FoP has Stellaria media (L.) Vill.

FoC has two varieties of Stellaria media (L.) Vill.

In addition to above FoC also describes Stellaria neglecta Weihe.

This species, a wild small decumbent herb, more or less a ft high differs in all of the above either in 1) flowering season, 2) number of styles, 3) number of stamens or in more than single feature.

But, this species conforms to Stellaria media L. of "Bengal Plants", along with Stellaria media L. = Stellaria monogyna D. Don = Alsinella wallichiana Benth. of F. B. I. i. 230.

What will be its current accepted name?

(i missed the Caryophyllaceae Week because of the flowering season of this plant)

Regards,

surajit

[Gurcharan Singh]

Surajit ji

Stellaria media (L.) Vill. is based on Alsine media L., and S. monogyna is a synonym of of it

It would be sufficient to list it as such unless we are also listing a variant also say for Stellaria media  var. micrantha (Hayata) T. S. Liu & S. S. Yingvar. Now we would have two taxa , one the original typical plant which would get automatically named as Stellaria media (L.) Vill. var media (an autonym, as it is automatically created so no author name).

In a way when we are listing simply Stellaria media, it means we are referring  Stellaria media var. media.

Now one of the blunders of The Plant List. It lists Stellaria media subsp. cupaniana (Jord. & Fourr.) Nyman; logically whenever such a subspecies name is created the original type should become Stellaria media subsp. media, and if the two varieties are to be retained they would have names as Stellaria media (L.) Vill. subsp. media var. media and Stellaria media (L.) Vill. subsp. media var.  micrantha (Hayata) T. S. Liu & S. S. Yingvar.

But then perhaps no one associated with The Plant List knows these basics of Botanical nomenclature.

-- 

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 

http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/   

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[surajit koley]

Sir,

Now, i think i can understand a bit how naming convention goes into plant taxonomy. I had no clear idea earlier.

Thank you very very much for explaining.

Regards,

surajit

[J.M. Garg]

As styles appear to be five, it may be Stellaria aquatica as per keys & images herein.

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With regards,
J.M.Garg

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[Gurcharan Singh]

Yes Garg ji, It is S. aquatica.

Dr. Gurcharan Singh

Retired  Associate Professor
SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007
Res: 932 Anand Kunj, Vikas Puri, New Delhi-110018.
Phone: 011-25518297  Mob: 9810359089

http://www.gurcharanfamily.com/ 
http://people.du.ac.in/~singhg45/

[J.M. Garg]

Thanks, Singh ji.