{{Short description|Species of carnivorous plant}} {{Speciesbox |image = Stylidium affine.jpg |genus = Stylidium |species = affine |authority = Sond. |synonyms = *''S. caricifolium'' subsp. ''affine'' (Sond.) Carlquist }} [[File:Stylidium affine habit.jpg|thumb|Habit in the Meelup Regional Park]]
'''''Stylidium affine''''' is a species in the genus ''Stylidium'' (family Stylidiaceae) that is endemic to Western Australia.
== Description == ''Stylidium affine'' is a perennial plant that possesses long erect or recurved lanceolate leaves. Leaves are {{convert|12|-|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, 2–4 mm wide, and arranged in groups of 2–4, emerging from a basal papery sheath, having the overall appearance of a tuft. Inflorescences are paniculate, {{convert|20|-|30|cm|in|abbr=on}} long, and densely glandular. Peduncles have 1–3 flowers, which are rose pink to mauve coloured with vertically-paired corolla lobes (anterior and posterior lobes both 8–11 mm long). It has 4 throat appendages, the upper two of which are white, wing-like, and around 4 mm long. It has a diploid chromosome number of 2''n''=14. ''Stylidium affine'' flowers in October.<ref name="Lowrie 1998">Lowrie, A., D. J. Coates, and K. F. Kenneally. 1998. A taxonomic review of the ''Stylidium caricifolium'' complex (Stylidiaceae), from south-west Western Australia. ''Nuytsia'', 12(1): 43-57.</ref>
== Distribution and habitat == ''Stylidium affine'' grows in lateritic soils often near granite outcrops in association with ''Eucalyptus wandoo'' in open woodland. It is native to an area from east of Gingin south-east to Kojonup and west to Dunsborough. In the southern part of its range, ''S. affine'' is found in open woodland in association with ''E. wandoo'' or ''Corymbia calophylla''. Its distribution is separate and west of related species like ''S. caricifolium''.<ref name="Lowrie 1998" />
== Taxonomy and botanical history == [[File:Stylidium drummondii.jpg|thumb|right|Illustration by Augusta Innes Withers]] The species now known as ''S. affine'' was first described by Robert Graham as ''Stylidium drummondii'' in an 1841 volume of the ''Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal''. Graham based his new species description on plants raised from seed that were sent from James Drummond to a Mr Low of Clapton, England. Mr Low sent a plant to Graham in October 1839. The specimen first flowered in November 1840. The exact provenance of the seed sent to Mr Low is not explicitly stated by Graham in his description, but it is speculated that the seed came from Drummond's travels in the Swan, Avon, Helena, and Toodyay valleys, which are within the bounds of the known distribution of ''S. affine''.<ref name="Wege 2007">Wege, J. A. 2007. (1782) Proposal to conserve the name ''Stylidium affine'' against ''S. drummondii'' (Stylidiaceae). ''Taxon'', 56(2): 613-614.</ref>
In 1845, Otto Wilhelm Sonder published the name ''Stylidium affine''. Since then, it has been used in multiple publications including Johannes Mildbraed's 1908 taxonomic monograph on the family, whereas ''S. drummondii'' has only been used sparingly. While preparing a revision of the family for the ''Flora of Australia'' series, Juliet Wege discovered that the description and illustration of ''S. drummondii'' is synonymous with and antedates that of ''S. affine'', thus making ''S. drummondii'' the proper name for the species under strict priority nomenclature rules regulated by the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN). Citing the extensive use of ''S. affine'' over ''S. drummondii'' and the preference for preserving nomenclatural stability (Article 14.2 of the ICBN), Wege proposed and argued for the conservation of the name ''S. affine'' over ''S. drummondii'' in 2007.<ref name="Wege 2007" /> The conservation of the name ''S. affine'' was recommended by a 17 to 1 vote by the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants in February 2009,<ref name="NCVP">Brummitt, RK. 2009. Report of the Nomenclature Committee for Vascular Plants: 60. ''Taxon'', 58(1): 280-292.</ref> but the proposal has not yet been assessed by the International Botanical Congress.<ref name="Proposals">[http://botany.si.edu/references/codes/props/index.cfm Proposals and Disposals Database], Department of Botany, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Accessed 2 December 2009.</ref>
Two varieties of ''S. affine'' have been described in the past, the first of which were ''S. affine'' var. ''minus'' and the autonym ''S. affine'' var. ''affine'' described in Sonder's original 1845 publication. In 1904, Ernst Georg Pritzel published ''S. affine'' var. ''laxum''. Both var. ''minus'' and var. ''laxum'' are now considered to be synonymous with ''S. caricifolium'', rendering the autonym var. ''affine'' unnecessary.<ref>{{APNI|name=''Stylidium affine''|id=38502}}</ref><ref>{{APNI|name=''Stylidium affine'' var. ''affine''|id=38517}}</ref><ref>{{APNI|name=''Stylidium affine'' var. ''laxum''|id=38531}}</ref><ref>{{APNI|name=''Stylidium affine'' var. ''minus''|id=38560}}</ref>
For a brief period of time, ''S. affine'' was considered to be a subspecies of the allied ''S. caricifolium''. Sherwin Carlquist found very little difference between ''S. affine'', ''S. nungarinense'', and ''S. caricifolium'', arguing in 1969 that the former two could not be maintained at the species rank.<ref name="Carlquist 1969">Carlquist, S. 1969. Studies in Stylidiaceae: New taxa, field observations, evolutionary tendencies. ''Aliso'', 7(1): 13-64.</ref> Subsequent publications in the early 1980s determined that ''S. affine'' was worthy of species rank due to differential leaf morphology and differences in chromosome count.<ref name="Wege 2007" />
== See also == * List of ''Stylidium'' species
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commons-inline|Stylidium affine|''Stylidium affine''}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q7629499}}
Category:Asterales of Australia Category:Carnivorous plants of Australia Category:Eudicots of Western Australia Category:Plants described in 1845 affine Category:Taxa named by Otto Wilhelm Sonder