Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex Linnaeus. Queen's-delight. Phen: Apr-Jul (-Aug); May-Sep. Hab: Longleaf pine sandhills, dryish Coastal Plain woodlands, other dry woodlands. Dist: Se. VA south to s. FL, west to s. TX, s. NM, and Mexico (COA, MIC, TAM), north in the interior to KS and se. CO. Apparently disjunct inland in KY, based on a well-documented occurrence found by C.W. Short in 1840: "rare -- barrens of Kentucky" (M. Brock, pers.comm., 2024).

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: S. sylvatica may contain an additional entity distributed in peninsular FL and s. GA, designated by Small (1933) as S. spathulata. S. spathulata putatively differs structurally from S. sylvatica in having smaller capsules, shorter seeds, and in having many individuals in a population with oblanceolate (common) to truly spatulate (infrequent) leaf blades. Nevertheless, individuals with narrowly elliptical leaves are present in most S. spathulata populations. The two entities occupy similar niches throughout their respective ranges, and are not genetically isolated.

Synonymy: = Ar, C, G, GrPl, RAB, Tx; = Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex L. ssp. sylvatica – K1, K3, Va, Govaerts, Frodin, & Radcliffe-Smith (2000), Rogers (1951); > Stillingia spathulata (Müller of Aargau) Small – S, S13; < Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex L. – Fl2, FNA12, K4, Mex, WH3; > Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex L. – S, S13; > Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex L. var. salicifolia Torr. – F; > Stillingia sylvatica Garden ex L. var. sylvatica – F

Show in key(s)

Show parent genus

Heliophily ?: 7