About Stylidium tenerum Spreng.
Stylidium tenerum, commonly known as the swamp triggerplant, is a dicotyledonous species in the genus Stylidium of the family Stylidiaceae. It was formally described by Curt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel in 1826. Robert Brown had previously described this species in 1810 under the name Stylidium tenellum, but this name was already in use for a different species published by Olof Swartz in 1805. Adding to this taxonomic confusion, Rica Erickson described and illustrated this taxon in 1958 under the name Stylidium uliginosum, which is currently the accepted name for a separate related species.
S. tenerum is an erect annual plant that grows between 3 and 20 centimetres tall. Each plant produces 4 to 10 obovate or orbicular leaves arranged in a basal rosette. The leaves typically measure 4 to 17.5 millimetres in length and 3 to 8 millimetres in width. This species usually bears one to seven scapes, with cymose inflorescences that grow 3 to 20 centimetres long. Its flowers are white.
S. tenerum has a broad distribution across Australia, ranging from eastern Queensland and the extreme northeastern corner of New South Wales northward to the Wessel Islands of the Northern Territory. It has also been recorded in Papua New Guinea. Its typical habitats are sandy soils along creekbanks, in seepage areas, and on coastal lowlands within open Melaleuca communities. It flowers from April to October in the Southern Hemisphere.
