Fimbripetalum radians

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Stellaria radians L. was recovered as part of the Insignes clade, which is sister to the remainder of core Stellaria, but this taxon is sometimes classified in a monotypic genus, Fimbripetalum (Turcz.) Ikonn. (Pavlova 1996). Despite its singular floral morphology of having five or more lobes per petal (Fig. 1), it is closely related to other early diverging members of core Stellaria that bear deeply bilobed petals, namely Stellaria corei Shinners, Stellaria pubera Michx., and S. sessiliflora. This finding renders the apomorphic floral morphology of S. radians inappropriate as a means of recognizing a separate, monotypic genus for this taxon; Fimbripetalum is thus appropriately considered a synonym of Stellaria. The phylogenetic standing of the Insignes clade has interesting implications in terms of the group’s biogeography, however, which is highly suggestive of a Tertiary eastern Asian-eastern North American disjunction (Sharples and Tripp in prep.).