Stellaria mcclintockiae

News: Researchers have discovered a new species of plant, Stellaria mcclintockiae, from the Nelliyampathy hills, Kerala. It has been named after Barbara McClintock, an American scientist who won the 1983 Nobel Prize for discovering ‘jumping genes.’ This is the first species of the genus Stellaria reported from south India.
• Stellaria  species  are  relatively  small  herbs  with  simple  opposite  leaves.  It produces small flowers with 5 sepals and 5 white petals each usually deeply cleft, or none at all, all free.•    Stellaria mcclintockiae is an annual herb growing up to 15 cm in height.
•    It is known to be found only in the Nelliyampathy hills at an elevation of 1,250-1,400 metres.
•    It differs from the various species of the genus with respect to bracts, sepals, petals, pollen morphology and seed surface architecture.