Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum lissophloeus
spotted St. John's-wort
smooth-bark St. John's wort
clustered, internodes not lined, with black glands scattered all over.
internodes 4-lined at first, soon 4-angled, then terete, dull silvery, glaucous.
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-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.
subcorymbiform to cylindric, 10–206(–600)-flowered, subsidiary branches narrowly ascending to curved-ascending.
narrowly cylindric, 1–3-flowered, usually with paired flowers or triads from to 9 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.
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.
ovoid to subglobose, 2.5–6 × 2–3.5(–4) mm, with longitudinal vittae or elongate to ovoid vesicles.
narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid, 6–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm.
not carinate, 0.5–0.7 mm;
testa linear-reticulate.
narrowly carinate, 1–1.6 mm;
testa coarsely reticulate-sulcate.
= 14, 16.
= 18.
Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum lissophloeus
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.)
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.)
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