Stylidium ecorne is a dicotyledon

Dicotyledon

The dicotyledons, also known as dicots, are a group of flowering plants whose seed typically has two embryonic leaves or cotyledons. There are around 199,350 species within this group...

ous plant

Plant

Plants are living organisms belonging to the kingdom Plantae. Precise definitions of the kingdom vary, but as the term is used here, plants include familiar organisms such as trees, flowers, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae. The group is also called green plants or...

 that belongs to the genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 Stylidium (family Stylidiaceae

Stylidiaceae

The family Stylidiaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It consists of five genera with over 240 species, most of which are endemic to Australia and New Zealand. Members of Stylidiaceae are typically grass-like herbs or small shrubs and can be perennials or annuals...

). It is an annual plant

Annual plant

An annual plant is a plant that usually germinates, flowers, and dies in a year or season. True annuals will only live longer than a year if they are prevented from setting seed...

 that grows from 5 to 12 cm tall. It has pale or bright pink flowers and occurs in swampy areas.

Taxonomy

S. ecorne was initially identified by Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, but it was not specifically named until Rica Erickson

Rica Erickson

Frederica Lucy "Rica" Erickson AM, née Sandilands, was an Australian naturalist, botanical artist, historian, author and teacher. Without any formal scientific training, she wrote extensively on botany and birds, as well as genealogy and general history...

 and Jim Willis reviewed the taxonomy of Stylidium calcaratum

Stylidium calcaratum

Stylidium calcaratum, the book triggerplant, is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the genus Stylidium . It is an ephemeral annual that grows from 5 to 10 cm tall but can grow larger at 20–30 cm tall in damp forest or scrub habitat. The few ovate leaves produced by this plant form...

in 1956 and authored S. calcaratum var. ecorne. Erickson and Willis decided to keep it at the variety level on the basis that it shared a similar morphology to that of S. calcaratum with the exception of the nectary spur, which was reduced or absent in S. calcaratum var. ecorne. Pauline G. Farrell and Sydney Herbert James, in their 1979 review, based their decision to elevate the variety to species level on chromosomal and reproductive discontinuities.

Farrell and James discovered that S. ecorne has a haploid chromosome

Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes...

 number of 13, whereas S. calcaratum has a haploid chromosome number of 11. Farrell and James reasoned that dysploid reduction (also called aneuploidy

Aneuploidy

Aneuploidy is an abnormal number of chromosomes, and is a type of chromosome abnormality. An extra or missing chromosome is a common cause of genetic disorders . Some cancer cells also have abnormal numbers of chromosomes. Aneuploidy occurs during cell division when the chromosomes do not separate...

) in the genus Stylidium is frequent and probable in this case, meaning that S. calcaratum is virtually certain to be derived from S. ecorne. This reduction is also evident from the floral spur, reduced number of ovules, and increased tolerance of other habitats, which the authors cited as derived conditions in S. calcaratum. Crosses between S. ecorne and S. calcaratum yielded very few seeds, indicating that the taxa are well isolated from each other.

Characteristic	Stylidium calcaratum	Stylidium ecorne
Nectary spur Spur (biology) A spur in botany is a spike, usually part of a flower.In certain plants, part of a sepal or petal develops into an elongated hollow spike extending behind the flower, containing nectar which is sucked by long-tongued animals . Plants with such structures include Delphinium, Aquilegia, Piperia, and...	At least as long as the subtending sepal	Shorter than the sepal or absent
Mean number of ovule Ovule Ovule means "small egg". In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus , and the megaspore-derived female gametophyte in its center... s per ovary Ovary (plants) In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...	85.52	466.47
Haploid chromosome Chromosome A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein found in cells. It is a single piece of coiled DNA containing many genes, regulatory elements and other nucleotide sequences. Chromosomes also contain DNA-bound proteins, which serve to package the DNA and control its functions.Chromosomes... number	n=11	n=13
Habitat	Swampy areas, moss swards in wet regions associated with granite, dry sandy soils, on laterite, or along roadsides	Restricted to swampy areas or moss swards in wet regions

Distribution

S. ecorne is as widely distributed as S. calcaratum but occurs less frequently due to its restricted ecological habitat preference. It can be found from north of Geraldton

Geraldton, Western Australia

Geraldton is a city and port in Western Australia located north of Perth in the Mid West region. Geraldton has an estimated population at June 2010 of 36,958...

 in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 to Mount Chudalup in the south and east through South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

 to western Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

 with some outlying populations near Gembrook

Gembrook, Victoria

Gembrook is a town in Victoria, Australia, 54 km south-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the Shire of Cardinia...

 and Violet Town

Violet Town, Victoria

Violet Town is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is in the Shire of Strathbogie local government area. It was a coach stop on the Melbourne to Sydney road...

.