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

Botany 2017 abstract: http://2017.botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=158

Biogeography:

Botany 2018 abstract: http://www.botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=175

Stellaria sanjuanensis M. Sharples & E. Tripp, an endemic alpine starwort of southern Colorado seen here in the Culebra Range:

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Recognition of this species was published last year in Taxon:

RAD Sequencing Rejects a Long-Distance Disjunction in Stellaria L. (Caryophyllaceae) and Yields Support for a New Southern Rocky Mountains Endemic

Floral Evolution:

Work detailing some pollination biology and floral evolution in Stellaria was recently published:

Evolution of apetaly in the cosmopolitan genus Stellaria

Here is the habitat of the experimental starwort system in Colorado:

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Botany 2019 abstract: http://2019.botanyconference.org/engine/search/index.php?func=detail&aid=1050