Hypericum lissophloeus
Hypericum canariense
smooth-bark St. John's wort
Canary Island st john's wort, Canary Islands St. John's wort
internodes 4-lined at first, soon 4-angled, then terete, dull silvery, glaucous.
internodes 4-lined at first, then terete.
blades linear-subulate to acicular, (9–)12–17 × 0.5–0.8 mm, glaucous, base articulated, parallel or almost so, margins revolute, apex obtuse to rounded, midrib unbranched.
spreading, sessile;
blade narrowly elliptic to narrowly elliptic-oblong, 20–70 × 5–15 mm, (proximal usually narrower), base narrowly cuneate to subangustate, margins plane, apex acute to apiculate-obtuse, midrib with 8–12 pairs of branches, tertiary veins densely reticulate toward margins.
narrowly cylindric, 1–3-flowered, usually with paired flowers or triads from to 9 proximal nodes.
broadly rounded-pyramidal to broadly cylindric, to 30-flowered.
20 mm diam.;
sepals deciduous, not enclosing capsule, 5, linear-subulate, subequal, 7–8 × 0.5–0.8 mm, glaucous;
petals 5, bright yellow, obovate-spatulate, 10–12 mm;
stamens deciduous, 170–220;
ovary 3-merous;
styles 5 mm.
sepals lanceolate, unequal, 3–4.5 × 1–2.2 mm;
petals bright yellow, not red-tinged, oblanceolate-unguiculate, 12–17 mm;
anther gland yellow to orange;
styles widely spreading, 8–14 mm.
narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid, 6–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm.
pyramidal-ovoid to ovoid-ellipsoid, 9–12 × 7–8 mm.
narrowly carinate, 1–1.6 mm;
testa coarsely reticulate-sulcate.
1.5–2 mm, narrowly winged;
testa linear-reticulate to linear-foveolate.
= 18.
= 40.
Hypericum lissophloeus
Hypericum canariense
Of conservation concern.
Hypericum lissophloeus is found in Bay and Washington counties. The larger capsules, one- to three-flowered, lateral inflorescence branches, and smooth-polished, metallic bark (that exfoliates like that of Betula species) are among the features that distinguish H. lissophloeus from H. fasciculatum, H. nitidum, and their allies (H. brachyphyllum and H. chapmanii).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Hypericum canariense is established at Montecito and Santa Barbara in the hills (P. A. Munz 1974) and along the coast north of Santa Cruz to San Francisco, at locations in Orange and San Mateo counties, and in the San Diego coast region.
The description above agrees with that for Hypericum floribundum regarding sepals lanceolate and acute; in typical H. canariense they are oblong-spatulate and rounded. The variation is continuous; only one species is recognized here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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