Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum dolabriforme
spotted St. John's-wort
straggling St. John's-wort
clustered, internodes not lined, with black glands scattered all over.
internodes 4-lined at first, then 2-lined to terete.
spreading or ascending, usually sessile, rarely petiolate (to 1 mm);
blade elliptic or oblong to lanceolate or triangular-lanceolate, or oblanceolate, 14–40(–58) × 3–17(–22.5) mm, base cordate to narrowly cuneate, margins plane, apex usually rounded to retuse, rarely acute to obtuse, midrib with 3–5 pairs of branches, tertiary veins densely reticulate toward margins, black glands intramarginal (dense) and laminar (scattered).
blades linear-elliptic or linear-oblong to linear, 20–35 × 3–5 mm (main stem), base not articulated, narrowly cuneate to rounded, margins recurved to revolute, apex obtuse to acute, midrib unbranched.
subcorymbiform to cylindric, 10–206(–600)-flowered, subsidiary branches narrowly ascending to curved-ascending.
obconic, (1–)3–20-flowered, ± widely branched, sometimes with single flowers at immediately proximal nodes.
8–15 mm diam.;
sepals not imbricate, erect in fruit, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to elliptic or ovate-elliptic, subequal, (1.5–)2–4 × 0.8–1.6 mm, apex acute to rounded;
petals pale yellow, oblanceolate to elliptic, 3–6(–9) mm;
stamens (20–)30–60;
anther gland black;
styles 1–4 mm.
15–20 mm diam.;
sepals persistent, not enclosing capsule, 5, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate, ± foliaceous, unequal, 5–8(–15) × 2–3(–8)mm;
petals 5, yellow, curved-dolabriform, 10–13 mm;
stamens deciduous, 120–200;
ovary 3-merous.
ovoid to subglobose, 2.5–6 × 2–3.5(–4) mm, with longitudinal vittae or elongate to ovoid vesicles.
ovoid-conic, rostrate, 4–9 × 3–4 mm.
not carinate, 0.5–0.7 mm;
testa linear-reticulate.
carinate, 1.5–1.8 mm;
testa reticulate-scalariform.
= 14, 16.
= 18.
Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum dolabriforme
Hypericum punctatum has been confused with H. pseudomaculatum; it can almost always be distinguished by style length and anther gland (black in H. punctatum, amber or pellucid in H. pseudomaculatum). D. E. Culwell’s (1970) record of one specimen of the latter from Missouri with a black anther gland could refer to a hybrid; he and other authors agree that such plants are rare, despite the considerable overlap in distribution of these species. Culwell remarked on the unexpected fecundity of the experimentally produced cross H. graveolens × punctatum but nowhere compared the resulting plants with H. ×mitchellianum, a probable hybrid with that parentage (see discussion
under H. ×mitchellianum. Both H. punctatum and H. ×mitchellianum (but not H. graveolens) display a ring of 16 chromosomes at meiosis, and Culwell suggested that this phenomenon may imply some degree of pseudogamy in the group. C. R. Bell (1965) recorded n = 7 chromosomes for this species; his illustration shows n = 8.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Hypericum dolabriforme is superficially similar to H. sphaerocarpum, to which W. P. Adams (1962) related it. Apart from the narrow leaves and unequal sepals, it is much nearer morphologically to H. myrtifolium (for example, in the wide-spreading inflorescence, numbers of stamens, and ovoid-conic capsules). Hypericum bissellii, described from a plant growing in Southington, Connecticut, is unlikely to be indigenous in that state.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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