Trillium is a genus of about fifty flowering plant species in the family Melanthiaceae. Trillium species are native to temperate regions of North America and Asia, with the greatest diversity of species found in the southern Appalachian Mountains in the southeastern United States.
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactaceae, and Polygonaceae. It is a large family, with 81 genera and about 2,625 known species.
Sympatric speciation is the evolution of a new species from a surviving ancestral species while both continue to inhabit the same geographic region. In evolutionary biology and biogeography, sympatric and sympatry are terms referring to organisms whose ranges overlap so that they occur together at least in some places. If these organisms are closely related, such a distribution may be the result of sympatric speciation. Etymologically, sympatry is derived from the Greek roots συν ("together") and πατρίς ("homeland"). The term was coined by Edward Bagnall Poulton in 1904, who explains the derivation.
Saponaria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native to Asia and Europe, and are commonly known as soapworts. They are herbaceous perennials and annuals, some with woody bases. The flowers are abundant, five-petalled and usually in shades of pink or white. The genus is closely related to Lychnis and Silene, being distinguished from these by having only two styles in the flower. It is also related to Gypsophila, but its calyx is cylindrical rather than bell-shaped.
Minuartia is a genus of flowering plants commonly known as sandworts in the family Caryophyllaceae.
The Molluginaceae are a family of flowering plants recognized by several taxonomists. It was previously included in the larger family Aizoaceae. The APG III system of 2009 made no change in the status of the family as compared to the APG II system of 2003 and the APG system of 1998, apart from a reassignment of several genera, such as the placement of Corrigiola and Telephium into Caryophyllaceae, Corbichonia in Lophiocarpaceae, Microtea into Microteaceae and Limeum in Limeaceae, because the family was found to be widely polyphyletic in Caryophyllales. In addition Macarthuria was found not to be related to Limeum as previously thought and thus it was placed in Macarthuriaceae, and similarly species formerly placed in Hypertelis, apart from type species Hypertelis spergulacea, a true Molluginaceae, were found to belong elsewhere and were described as Kewa in the family Kewaceae, named for the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Molluginaceae is still assigned to the order Caryophyllales in the clade core eudicots, although the generic circumscription is difficult because Mollugo is not monophyletic.
Hordeum pusillum, also known as little barley, is an annual grass native to most of the United States and southwestern Canada. It arrived via multiple long-distance dispersals of a southern South American species of Hordeum about one million years ago. Its closest relatives are therefore not the other North American taxa like meadow barley or foxtail barley, but rather Hordeum species of the pampas of central Argentina and Uruguay. It is less closely related to the Old World domesticated barley, from which it diverged about 12 million years ago. It is diploid.
Trillium pusillum is a species of flowering plant in the family Melanthiaceae known by the common names dwarf trillium, least trillium and dwarf wakerobin. It is native to the southeastern and south-central United States from Oklahoma to Maryland.
Caryophyllales is a diverse and heterogeneous order of flowering plants that includes the cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, beets, and many carnivorous plants. Many members are succulent, having fleshy stems or leaves. The betalain pigments are unique in plants of this order and occur in all its families with the exception of Caryophyllaceae and Molluginaceae.
Ophioglossum pusillum is a species of fern in the family Ophioglossaceae known by the common name northern adder's tongue.
Virotia is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. The genus is endemic to New Caledonia with six species that were once placed in Macadamia. Its closest relatives are the Australian Athertonia and the Asian Heliciopsis. The genus is named after Robert Virot, pioneer of ecological studies in New Caledonia and author of a monograph of New Caledonian Proteaceae.
Grevillea heliosperma, commonly known as rock grevillea, is a shrub native to northern Australia, generally growing around 3 to 5 m tall, rarely to 8 m (26 ft). It has red flowers.
Geocarpon is a monotypic genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. It contains the single species Geocarpon minimum, which is known by the common names tinytim and earth-fruit. It is a rare plant known from about 34 populations in the US states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Texas. There are a number of threats to its survival and it was listed as a threatened species of the United States in 1987.
Cerastium utriense is a species of perennial flowering plant in the genus Cerastium, belonging to the family Caryophyllaceae. It was first described in 1988. It is endemic to Italy.
Heliosperma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. As such, it is closely related to the large genus Silene, but its members can be told apart from Silene by the crest of long papillae on the seeds. The majority of the species are narrow endemics from the Balkan Peninsula, but H. alpestre is endemic to the Eastern Alps, and H. pusillum is found from the Cordillera Cantábrica in northern Spain to the Carpathians. Like members of the genus Silene and other related genera, Heliosperma is attacked by species of the anther smut fungus Microbotryum. Cases of parallel divergence events between alpine and mountain populations have been reported in this genus.
Ecological speciation is a form of speciation arising from reproductive isolation that occurs due to an ecological factor that reduces or eliminates gene flow between two populations of a species. Ecological factors can include changes in the environmental conditions in which a species experiences, such as behavioral changes involving predation, predator avoidance, pollinator attraction, and foraging; as well as changes in mate choice due to sexual selection or communication systems. Ecologically-driven reproductive isolation under divergent natural selection leads to the formation of new species. This has been documented in many cases in nature and has been a major focus of research on speciation for the past few decades.
Arceuthobium pusillum is a perennial, obligate parasitic plant in the sandalwood family. Its common names include Dwarf mistletoe or Eastern dwarf mistletoe. It is one of the most widespread dwarf mistletoes within its range which covers the eastern United States and Canada, from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia and New Jersey. The species name "pusillum" derives from Latin "pusillus", meaning very small.
Acanthophyllum elatius is a species of plant in the family Caryophyllaceae. The species is perennial. It is native to central Asia.
Silene alpestris, the alpine catch-fly, is a species of flowering plant in the pink family Caryophyllaceae, native to Europe in the mountains of Italy, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. This spreading, mat-forming evergreen perennial grows to 15 cm (5.9 in) tall by 30 cm (12 in) broad. It produces masses of tiny white flowers over a long period in Spring and Summer.
