Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum gentianoides
spotted St. John's-wort
orange-grass, orange-grass St. John's-wort, pineweed, pinweed St. Johnswort
clustered, internodes not lined, with black glands scattered all over.
internodes 4-lined.
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).
appressed, sessile;
blade narrowly triangular-subulate to linear-subulate, scalelike, 1–4 × 0.4–0.6 mm, subcoriaceous to chartaceous, margins incurved, apex obtuse to rounded, basal vein 1, midrib unbranched.
subcorymbiform to cylindric, 10–206(–600)-flowered, subsidiary branches narrowly ascending to curved-ascending.
usually pyramidal, 1–24-flowered, branching mostly monochasial.
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.
3–5 mm diam.;
sepals lanceolate to narrowly oblong or linear-lanceolate, unequal, 1.5–2.5 × 0.4–0.8 mm, apex acute;
petals orange-yellow to golden yellow, oblong, 2–4 mm;
stamens 5–11, 5 separate or obscurely 5-grouped;
styles 0.8–1.2 mm;
stigmas broadly capitate.
ovoid to subglobose, 2.5–6 × 2–3.5(–4) mm, with longitudinal vittae or elongate to ovoid vesicles.
narrowly cylindric-conic, 4–5 × 1–1.2 mm, length 2–2.7 times sepals.
not carinate, 0.5–0.7 mm;
testa linear-reticulate.
0.4–0.8 mm;
testa markedly ribbed-scalariform.
= 14, 16.
= 24.
Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum gentianoides
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 gentianoides is smaller in all parts than H. drummondii and more branched. The relatively long, narrow capsule is diagnostic, as are the relatively small, often scalelike leaves.
Hypericum sarothra Michaux and Sarothra hypericoides Nuttall are illegitimate names that pertain here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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