Stellaria palustris Retz., plants with differing bracts from Finland (one plant on the left: Lohja, Osuniemi, 1992; two plants on the right: Lohja, Vappula, 1986). – Image: Harri Harmaja (scanned from dried specimens). – The very intricate variability of S. palustris (Caryophyllacae) is treated comprehensively in Flora Nordica 2. However, definite formal decisions still await for further studies. The characters of the inflorescence and the kind of the bracts may deserve more attention than hitherto paid. In a proportion of plants the inflorescence is distinctly terminal, fairly well delimited (even fairly compact), and the bracts generally small and scarious (the plant on the left in the above image). In some other plants, the inflorescence may be seemingly lateral (like that of S. alsine), diffuse with few flowers (actually a plant may only bear one sole flower), and the bracts green (with scarious margins or not) and fairly tall, even leaf-like (the plants on the right). It is yet not possible to tell whether the above – admittedly not clear-cut – differences are discernible at the population level. It should perhaps be checked whether these features have any relevance in the delimitation of the preliminary races or population groups of the species.
Created August 29, 2004.