Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum lobocarpum
spotted St. John's-wort
five-lobe St. John's-wort
clustered, internodes not lined, with black glands scattered all over.
internodes 4-lined at first, soon 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 narrowly oblong to oblanceolate or linear, 35–50 × 3–11 mm, base articulated, narrowly cuneate to attenuate, margins recurved to revolute, apex apiculate-rounded to subacute, midrib with 12–14 pairs of branches.
subcorymbiform to cylindric, 10–206(–600)-flowered, subsidiary branches narrowly ascending to curved-ascending.
globose-cylindric to shortly and broadly pyramidal, 5–25-flowered from apical node, with 3–15-flowered dichasia from 1–3 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.
10–15 mm diam.;
sepals deciduous, not enclosing capsule, 5, narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong or oblanceolate-spatulate, subequal to equal, (3.5–)4–4.5 × 0.8–1.5(–2) mm, basal veins 3–7;
petals 5, golden yellow, obovate-oblanceolate, 6–7(–8) mm;
stamens deciduous, 100–150;
ovary (3–)4–5-merous.
ovoid to subglobose, 2.5–6 × 2–3.5(–4) mm, with longitudinal vittae or elongate to ovoid vesicles.
narrowly ovoid-conic to ovoid, 5.5–7 × 2.5–3.5 mm, notably lobed.
not carinate, 0.5–0.7 mm;
testa linear-reticulate.
not carinate, 1.2–1.5 mm;
testa linear-reticulate.
= 14, 16.
= 18.
Hypericum punctatum
Hypericum lobocarpum
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 lobocarpum usually can be distinguished from H. densiflorum by the five-merous ovary; its lobed capsule is a better differentiating characteristic. Hybrid intermediate forms sometimes occur in northwestern Alabama. The South Carolina population (from Allendale County), although well within the area of H. densiflorum and well established, has fruits typical of H. lobocarpum and appears to be either an outlier or an introduction. Hypericum ×dawsonianum Rehder, apparently H. lobocarpum × prolificum and intermediate in form between the presumed parents, is known in cultivation only.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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