Multiple research questions are being pursued towards better understanding of the genus Stellaria (starworts) and close relatives.
Systematics & Taxonomy:
Phylogenetic synthesis of the genus Stellaria:
“Phylogenetic Relationships Within and Delimitation of the Cosmopolitan Flowering Plant Genus Stellaria L. (Caryophyllaceae): Core Stars and Fallen Stars”
Taxonomic notes on the genus Stellaria:
“Taxonomic Observations within Stellaria (Caryophyllaceae): Insights from Ecology, Geography, Morphology, and Phylogeny Suggest Widespread Parallelism in Starworts and Erode Previous Infrageneric Classifications”
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aspt/sb/2019/00000044/00000004/art00016
Taxonomy of taxa lumped into “Stellaria alsine“ and a new Tertiary disjunction:
“The paraphyly of Stellaria alsine (Caryophyllaceae) necessitates taxonomic readjustment”
Biogeography:
A biogeographic synthesis of the genus Stellaria, with ancestral area reconstruction, aspects of niche/ecological evolution, one of the great long distance dispersal events in angiosperms, and interesting new insights into Tertiary disjunctions:
“Origins of cryophilous lineages and the role of Beringia: evidence from the cosmopolitan angiosperm genus Stellaria L. (Caryophyllaceae)”
https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/141/2/191/7342380
Stellaria sanjuanensis M. Sharples & E. Tripp, an endemic alpine starwort of southern Colorado seen here in the Culebra Range:
Recognition of this species was published in Taxon:
“RAD Sequencing Rejects a Long-Distance Disjunction in Stellaria L. (Caryophyllaceae) and Yields Support for a New Southern Rocky Mountains Endemic”
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tax.12059
Floral Evolution:
Pollination biology and floral evolution in Stellaria:
“Evolution of apetaly in the cosmopolitan genus Stellaria”
https://bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajb2.1650
Here is the habitat of the experimental starwort system in Colorado:
BOTANICAL & OTHER EXPLORATIONS 