Stylidium

Plant Characteristics

Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Scientific Names

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Stylidium (also known as triggerplants or trigger plants) is a genus of dicotyledonous plants that belong to the family Stylidiaceae. The genus name Stylidium is derived from the Greek στύλος or stylos (column or pillar), which refers to the distinctive reproductive structure that its flowers possess. Pollination is achieved through the use of the sensitive "trigger", which comprises the male and female reproductive organs fused into a floral column that snaps forward quickly in response to touch, harmlessly covering the insect in pollen. Most of the approximately 300 species are only found in Australia, making it the fifth largest genus in that country. Triggerplants are considered to be protocarnivorous or carnivorous because the glandular trichomes that cover the scape and flower can trap, kill, and digest small insects with protease enzymes produced by the plant.

S. turbinatum flowers untriggered (left) and after being triggered (right). The floral column will reset to the original position.

The majority of the Stylidium species are perennial herbs of which some are geophytes that utilize bulbs as their storage organ. The remaining small group of species consists of ephemeral annuals.

Members of the genus are most easily identified by their unique floral column, in which the stamen and style are fused.

Species of the genus Stylidium represent a very diverse selection of plants. Some are only a few centimeters tall, while others can grow to be 1.8 meters (5.9 ft) tall (S. laricifolium). One typical plant form is a dense rosette of leaves close to the ground that gives rise to the floral spike in the center. Plant forms range from wiry, creeping mats (S. scandens) to the bushy S. laricifolium.

Flower morphology differs in details, but ascribes to a simple blueprint: four petals, zygomorphic in nature, with the trigger protruding from the "throat" of the flower and resting below the plane of the flower petals. Flower size ranges from many species that have small 0.5 cm (0.2 in) wide flowers to the 2-3 cm (0.7-1.2 in) wide flowers of S. schoenoides. Flower color can also vary from species to species, but most include some combination of white, cream, yellow, or pink. Flowers are usually arranged in a spike or dense raceme, but there is at least one exception to the rule: S. uniflorum, as its name suggests, produces a single flower per inflorescence.

Leaf morphology is also very diverse in this large genus. Some leaves are very thin, almost needle-like (S. affine), while others are short, stubby, and arranged in rosettes (S. pulviniforme). Another group of species, such as S. scandens (climbing triggerplant) form scrambling, tangled mats typically propped up on aerial roots.

Read about Stylidium in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Stylidium (stylos, a column, referring to the body formed by the union of the stamens and style). Candolleaceae or Stylidiaceae. Herbaceous or somewhat woody perennials of many perplexing species mostly in Australia, seldom grown under glass or in the open in mild climates. Confusion has arisen in the name of this group, and recent authorities adopt the name Candollea, but Candollea is itself confused. In 1805, La Billardiere founded the genus Candollea for the plants which a few months earlier were named Stylidium, Swartz, by Willdenow (Sp. Pl. iv. 146). As the first application of the name Candollea was thus invalidated, La Billardiere, in 1806, used Candollea for a genus belonging to Dilleniaceae; this is the group described on page 653. Vol. II, now included in Hibbertia by Gilg in Engler & Prantl's Pflanzenfamilien, although kept separate by Bentham in Flora Australiensis and by Bentham & Hooker in Genera Plantarum. Although the name Stylidium, Swartz, is antedated by Stylidium, Loureiro, founded in 1790 on a plant of the Cornaceae, Swartz's name stands, since Loureiro's Stylidium belongs as a synonym to the earlier genus Alangium (see page 243, Vol. I). According to the International Rules, as well as on the principle of fifty years of accepted usage, it is correct to retain Candollea for the Dilleniaceous plants (page 653) and to use Stylidium for the genus we are now considering, as is done by Bentham & Hooker. Schonland, however, in Engler & Prantl, and, earlier, F. von Mueller, revive the Candollea of 1805 and make Stylidium a synonym, and in this case the Candollea of 1806 would become Eeldea of Durand if it is retained as a genus distinct from Hibbertia. According to the Philadelphia or American Code, however, the existence of earlier homonyms, no matter whether valid names or synonyms, prevents the use of Stylidium, Swartz, and of Candollea of 1806, and Forsteropsis would apparently be the name to be used for the Stylidium of Swartz, while Eeldea would replace Candollea. The latest monographer, Mildbraed, in Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 35 (iv. 278. 1908), adopts Stylidium, Swartz. It may be said in passing that the generic name Candollea has also been used for plants distinct from either of the groups we are here considering, but these applications are of later origin. The stylidiums are of very minor importance horticulturally and scarcely appear in the American trade, although S. adnatum has been listed in southern California. The species are difficult of determination in Australia; Mildbraed describes 103. Most of the species "form a rosette or spreading tuft of radical leaves from the midst of which springs the scape. Sometimes the following year the new leaves and scape are close to the old ones, forming a dense, tufted stock, the bases of the leaves sometimes assuming a bulbous appearance; in others, one or two short stems are formed above the old tuft, each crowned by a new rosette and scape, and sometimes several successive tufts of leaves, separated by short stems or branches, may be observed. The plants are more or less lobelia-like, with pink, purplish, yellow, or white fls. in racemes, panicles, or cymes; corolla irregular, five-lobed of which four lobes ascend in pairs and the other (the lip) much smaller and deflexed or sometimes nearly as large as the others and curved upward; calyx five-lobed, more or less two-lipped; stamens two, united with the style: fruit a capsule, two-valved from the top downward: leaves all radical, or scattered in whorl-like tufts, as described above. S. adnatum, R. Br. (Candollea adnata, Muell.), has mostly very narrow or linear lvs. scattered along the st., the upper ones crowded in a terminal tuft: fls. pink, nearly sessile in compound racemes or spike-like panicles: sts. 12 in. or less long.—S. Brunonianum, Benth. (Candollea Brunoniana, Muell.). Tufted or rarely proliferous, the radical lvs. linear to oblanceolate: scapes 12-18 in. high, with whorls of narrow lvs., and bearing many small pink fls., the corolla-throat appendaged,—S. ciliatum, Lindl. (S. saxifragoides, Lindl. Candollea ciliata, Muell.).-S. piliferum.—S. dichotomum, DC. (S. mucronifolium, Hook. Candollea dichotoma, Muell.). Low, the scapes 2-4 in. high and glandular-pubescent: lvs. narrowly linear, acute, scattered between tufts at base and top: fls. yellow in a glandular-hairy compound raceme or panicle. B.M. 4538. F.S. 6:606 (as S. Hookeri). J.F. 1:59.— S. graminifolium, Swartz (S. Armeria, Labill. Candollea graminifolia, Muell.). Tufted or somewhat proliferous, the scapes 6-18 in. high: lvs. rather rigid, linear, sometimes denticulate: fls. pink, nearly sessile in a raceme or interrupted spike. B.R. 90. B.M. 1918. J.F. 3:286.—S.piliferum, R. Br. Tufted, lvs. linear and hair-pointed, the plant with yellow glandular hairs: scape 6-12 in. high, bearing a raceme or panicle of yellow or whitish or pinkish fls., the corolla-throat not appendaged. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Cultivation

Stylidium graminifolium is available in cultivation with two cultivars: 'Tiny Trina' and 'Little Sapphire'.

Most Stylidium species tend to be hardy species and can be easily cultivated in greenhouses or gardens. They are drought resistant, hardy to cold weather, and the species diversity in this genus gives gardeners a wide variety of choices. Most species that are native to Western Australia will be cold hardy to at least -1 to -2°C. The few that can be found all over Australia, like S. graminifolium, will tolerate a wider range of habitat since their native ranges includes a great diversity of ecoregions. Some species of triggerplants are suitable for cultivation outdoors outside of the Australian continent including most of the United Kingdom and as far north as New York City or Seattle in the United States.

Cultivation from seed may be difficult or easy, depending on the species. The more difficult species to grow include the ones that require a period of dormancy or smoke treatment to simulate a bushfire. Stylidium specimens should be grown in a medium that is kept moist and has a relatively low concentration of nutrients. It should also be noted that they appear to be sensitive to disturbance of their root systems. Minimization of such disturbance will likely result in healthier plants.

Species

• Stylidium graminifolium
• Stylidium lineare

Gallery

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External links

• w:Stylidium. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
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