Heliosperma

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}}

{{Automatic taxobox

| image = Heliosperma pusillum.jpg

| image_caption = Heliosperma pusillum

| taxon = Heliosperma

| authority = (Rchb.) Rchb.

| synonyms =

• Ixoca Raf.
• Silene sect. Heliosperma Rchb.

| synonyms_ref =  

}}

Heliosperma is a genus of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae.{{cite journal |author1=Božo Frajman |author2=Frida Eggens |author3=Bengt Oxelman |year=2009 |title=Hybrid origins and homoploid reticulate evolution within Heliosperma (Sileneae, Caryophyllaceae) – a multigene phylogenetic approach with relative dating |journal=Systematic Biology |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=328–345 |doi=10.1093/sysbio/syp030|pmid=20525587 |doi-access=free }} As such, it is closely related to the large genus Silene, but its members can be told apart from Silene by the crest of long papillae on the seeds.{{cite journal |author1=Božo Frajman |author2=Richard K. Rabeler |year=2006 |title=Proposal to conserve the name Heliosperma against Ixoca (Caryophyllaceae, Sileneae) |journal=Taxon |volume=55 |issue=3 |pages=801–808 |url=http://www.bf.uni-lj.si/fileadmin/groups/2746/bibliografija_katedre/Frajman_Taxon_2006.pdf |doi=10.2307/25065663 |jstor=25065663 |hdl=2027.42/146904 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2012-03-10 |archive-date=2015-09-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923184213/http://www.bf.uni-lj.si/fileadmin/groups/2746/bibliografija_katedre/Frajman_Taxon_2006.pdf |url-status=dead }} The majority of the species are narrow endemics from the Balkan Peninsula, but H. alpestre is endemic to the Eastern Alps, and H. pusillum is found from the {{lang|es|Cordillera Cantábrica}} in northern Spain to the Carpathians.{{cite thesis |author=Božo Frajman |year=2007 |title=Taxonomy and reticulate phylogeny of Heliosperma and related genera (Sileneae, Caryophyllaceae) |degree=Ph.D. |publisher=Uppsala University |url=http://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:170572/FULLTEXT01 |format=PDF |isbn=978-91-554-6946-7}} Like members of the genus Silene and other related genera, Heliosperma is attacked by species of the anther smut fungus Microbotryum.{{cite journal |author1=Marcin Piątek |author2=Matthias Lutz |author3=Anna Ronikier |author4=Martin Kemler |author5=Urszula Świderska-Burek |year=2012 |title=Microbotryum heliospermae, a new anther smut fungus parasitic on Heliosperma pusillum in the mountains of the European Alpine System |journal=Fungal Biology |volume=116 |issue=2 |pages=185–195 |doi=10.1016/j.funbio.2011.10.011|pmid=22289764 |bibcode=2012FunB..116..185P }} Cases of parallel divergence events between alpine and mountain populations have been reported in this genus.{{Cite journal|last1=Trucchi|first1=Emiliano|last2=Frajman|first2=Božo|last3=Haverkamp|first3=Thomas H. A.|last4=Schönswetter|first4=Peter|last5=Paun|first5=Ovidiu|date=2017|title=Genomic analyses suggest parallel ecological divergence in Heliosperma pusillum (Caryophyllaceae)|journal=New Phytologist |language=en |volume=216 |issue=1 |pages=267–278 |doi=10.1111/nph.14722 |issn=1469-8137|pmc=5601199|pmid=28782803 |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=Szukala |first1=Aglaia |last2=Lovegrove-Walsh |first2=Jessica |last3=Luqman |first3=Hirzi |last4=Fior |first4=Simone |last5=Wolfe |first5=Thomas Mahteson |last6=Frajman |first6=Bozo |last7=Schoenswetter |first7=Peter |last8=Paun |first8=Ovidiu |year=2022 | title=Polygenic routes lead to parallel altitudinal adaptation in Heliosperma pusillum (Caryophyllaceae) |journal=Molecular Ecology |volume=mec.16393 |issue=8 |pages=1832–1847 |doi=10.1111/mec.16393 |doi-access=free |pmid=35152499 |pmc=10946620 |hdl=20.500.11850/535673 |hdl-access=free }}