''Stirlingia'', commonly known as blueboy, is a genus of 7 species in the family

Proteaceae The Proteaceae form a family (biology), family of flowering plants predominantly distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises 83 genus, genera with about 1,660 known species. Australia and South Africa have the greatest concentr ...

, all of which are endemic to

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

Description

''Stirlingia'' grows as a shrub or

herb Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingu ...

arising from a perennial tap root or woody root stock; the herbaceous nature of some species is unique to ''Stirlingia'' among the

. 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 In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

s that are either heads or very short spikes.

Taxonomy

The genus was first published by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

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 (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycology, mycological Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy. Early life Persoon was born in Cape Colony at ...

. Therefore, in 1838

Stephan Endlicher Stephan Friedrich Ladislaus Endlicher, also known as Endlicher István László (24 June 1804 – 28 March 1849), was an Austrian Empire, Austrian botanist, numismatist and Sinologist. He was a director of the Botanical Garden of Vienna. Biog ...

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. Despite publishing a new name for the genus, Endlicher omitted to formally transfer Brown's three species. In 1838,

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

published two more names, ''Stirlingia paniculata'' and '' Stirlingia simplex''. Two years later Endlicher transferred ''Simsia anethifolia'' to '' Stirlingia anethifolia'', and Ernst Steudel transferred the other two of Brown's species, as '' Stirlingia latifolia'' and '' Stirlingia tenuifolia''. Two more species, '' Stirlingia abrotanoides'' and '' Stirlingia teretifolia'', 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 ''Flora Australiensis: a description of the plants of the Australian Territory'', more commonly referred to as ''Flora Australiensis'', and also known by its standard abbreviation ''Fl. Austral.'', is a seven-volume Flora of Australia published b ...

'', 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 Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, (; 30 June 1825 – 10 October 1896) was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist. He was appointed government botanist for the then colony of Victoria, Australia ...

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 published a thorough treatment of the ''Stirlingia'' for the ''

Flora of Australia The flora of Australia comprises a vast assemblage of plant species estimated to over 21,000 vascular and 14,000 non-vascular plants, 250,000 species of fungi and over 3,000 lichens. The flora has strong affinities with the flora of Gondwana, ...

'' series of monographs. He reduced numerous names to synonymy, and published a further new species, '' Stirlingia divaricatissima''.

Species

Seven species are currently recognised: No infrageneric arrangement has been proffered. This genus is placed alone in subtribe Stirlingiinae, within the tribe Conospermeae of the subfamily

Proteoideae Proteoideae is one of the five subfamilies of the plant family Proteaceae. The greatest diversity of the subfamily is in Africa, but there are also many species in Flora of Australia, Australia. A few species occur in South America, New Caledonia, ...

. The common name Blueboy is used sometimes for the genus, but most often refers to the species '' 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 Laterite is a soil type rich in iron and aluminium and is commonly considered to have formed in hot and wet tropical areas. Nearly all laterites are of rusty-red coloration, because of high iron oxide content. They develop by intensive and prolo ...

; 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's

Declared Rare and Priority Flora List The Declared Rare and Priority Flora List is the system by which Western Australia's conservation flora are given a priority. Developed by the Government of Western Australia's Department of Environment and Conservation, it was used extensively ...

References

External links

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