''Stirlingia'', commonly known as blueboy, is a genus of 7 species in the family Proteaceae, all of which are endemic to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Description

''Stirlingia'' grows as a shrub or herb arising from a perennial

tap root A taproot is a large, central, and dominant root from which other roots sprout laterally. Typically a taproot is somewhat straight and very thick, is tapering in shape, and grows directly downward. In some plants, such as the carrot, the taproo ...

or woody root stock; the herbaceous nature of some species is unique to ''Stirlingia'' among the Proteaceae. They grow to heights ranging from 10 centimetres to 1.5 metres. Leaves are soft and leathery, and bifurcated along their length. They occur mostly on lower parts of the stems. Flowers occur in

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s that are either heads or very short spikes.

Taxonomy

The genus was first published by Robert Brown in 1810, under the name ''Simsia''. Brown initially published two species, ''Simsia anethifolia'' and ''Simsia tenuifolia'', adding a third, ''Simsia latifolia'' in 1830. It was later discovered that Brown's generic name was illegal, as the name '' Simsia'' had already been published in 1807 by

Christian Hendrik Persoon Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (1 February 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a German mycologist who made additions to Linnaeus' mushroom taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, the third child of an i ...

. Therefore, in 1838 Stephan Endlicher published a new name for the genus. He chose the name ''Stirlingia'', in honour of James Stirling, explorer of the Swan River and first

Governor of Western Australia The governor of Western Australia is the representative in Western Australia of the monarch of Australia, currently King Charles III. As with the other governors of the Australian states, the governor of Western Australia performs constitutiona ...

. Despite publishing a new name for the genus, Endlicher omitted to formally transfer Brown's three species. In 1838, John Lindley published two more names, ''Stirlingia paniculata'' and ''

Stirlingia simplex ''Stirlingia simplex'' is a plant endemic to Western Australia. Description A woody perennial, ''S. simplex'' can grow as a shrub or as suckering herb with short-lived stems arising from a perennial rootstock. Stems may be up to ten centim ...

''. Two years later Endlicher transferred ''Simsia anethifolia'' to ''

Stirlingia anethifolia ''Stirlingia anethifolia'' is a shrub endemic to Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bound ...

'', and Ernst Steudel transferred the other two of Brown's species, as ''

Stirlingia latifolia ''Stirlingia latifolia'', commonly known as blueboy, is a plant endemic to Western Australia. Description It grows as an erect shrub from 20 centimetres to 1.5 metres high, consisting of numerous stems up to 70 centimetres long, emerging from a ...

'' and ''

Stirlingia tenuifolia ''Stirlingia tenuifolia'' is a herb or shrub endemic to Western Australia. The erect perennial herb or shrub typically grows to a height of . It blooms between September and November producing yellow-cream flowers. It is found on dunes, sand pl ...

''. Two more species, ''

Stirlingia abrotanoides ''Stirlingia abrotanoides'' is a herb or shrub of the genus '' Stirlingia'' endemic to the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the lan ...

'' and ''

Stirlingia teretifolia ''Stirlingia'', commonly known as blueboy, is a genus of 7 species in the family Proteaceae, all of which are endemic to Western Australia. Description ''Stirlingia'' grows as a shrub or herb arising from a perennial tap root or woody root stoc ...

'', were published by

Carl Meissner Carl Daniel Friedrich Meissner (1 November 1800 – 2 May 1874) was a Swiss botanist. Biography Born in Bern, Switzerland on 1 November 1800, he was christened Meisner but later changed the spelling of his name to Meissner. For most of his 40 ...

in 1845. In 1848, some confusion was caused by an orthographic error in a work of Endlicher's, referring to ''Stirlingia anethifolia'' as ''Stirlingia acutifolia''. Also that year, Meissner published an eighth species, ''Stirlingia affinis''. He continued to publish new species publishing ''Stirlingia capillifolia'' in 1855, and ''Stirlingia intricata'' in 1856. In 1870,

George Bentham George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

published a treatment of the ''Stirlingia'' in his ''Flora Australiensis'', reducing the number of species to five, plus one variety: ''S. simplex'', ''S. abrotanoides'', ''S. teretifolia'', ''S. tenuifolia'', ''S. tenuifolia'' var. ''anethifolia'', and ''S. latifolia''. Fourteen years later, Ferdinand von Mueller somewhat disrupted the nomenclature of the genus by proposing to revert to the name ''Simsia'', publishing ''Simsia abrotanoides'', ''Simsia teretifolia'' and ''Simsia simplex'' for the first time. This was accepted as late as 1921, when Carl Ostenfeld published a further variety under ''Simsia'', ''Simsia latifolia'' var. ''gracilis''. In 1923, however, Karel Domin published a new species under ''Stirlingia'' as ''Stirlingia seselifolia''. In 1995, Alex George (botanist), Alex George published a thorough treatment of the ''Stirlingia'' for the ''Flora of Australia (series), Flora of Australia'' series of monographs. He reduced numerous names to synonymy, and published a further new species, ''Stirlingia divaricatissima''.

Species

As a result, only seven species are now recognised: No infrageneric arrangement has been proffered. This genus is placed alone in subtribe Stirlingiinae, within the tribe Conospermeae of the subfamily Proteoideae. The common name Blueboy is used sometimes for the genus, but most often refers to the species ''Stirlingia latifolia, S. latifolia''. The name comes from the fact that wall plaster turns blue if made using sand taken from where ''S. latifolia'' occurs.

Distribution and habitat

They are endemic to the Southwest Botanical Province of

. They occur in a range of soil types, including sand, clay, and laterite; most species prefer low-lying areas that are seasonally wet.

Ecology

Although none of the species are declared rare, ''S. divaricatissima'' has been declared "Priority Three - Poorly Known Taxa" on the Department of Environment and Conservation (Western Australia), Department of Environment and Conservation's Declared Rare and Priority Flora List.

References

External links

* * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q7617603 Stirlingia, Eudicots of Western Australia Proteaceae genera Proteales of Australia Endemic flora of Western Australia