台湾金丝桃 tai wan jin si tao

Takasagoya formosana (Maximowicz) Y. Kimura.

Shrubs, ca. 22 cm tall; branches spreading and arching. Stems 4-lined and ancipitous when young, soon 2-lined to terete; internodes 1.5-6 cm, usually shorter than leaves. Leaves sessile or with petiole to 1 mm; blade ovate or elliptic to oblong-elliptic, 2-6 × 1.1-2.9 cm, subleathery, abaxially paler but not glaucous; laminar glands dots, prominent; abaxial glands absent; main lateral veins 1- or 2-paired, the upper forming intramarginal vein, tertiary reticulation very faint or invisible; base cuneate to rounded, apex subacute to rounded. Inflorescence 1-3-flowered, terminal, and 1- or 2-flowered on subsidiary branches from up to 7(-10) nodes below, the whole cylindric; bracts leaflike, bracteoles narrowly elliptic, subpersistent. Pedicels 5-10 mm. Flowers 2.5-3.5 cm in diam., stellate to very shallowly cupped; buds ± broadly ovoid, apex subacute to obtuse. Sepals very slightly connate, erect in bud, ascending in fruit, subequal to unequal, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic to oblanceolate or elliptic-ovate, 7-10 × 1.5-6 mm, laminar glands lines and dots, margin entire, apex acute to subacute. Petals golden yellow, obovate, (1-)1.3-1.7(-2) × 0.8-1.2 cm, ca. 2 × as long as sepals, eglandular, margin entire, apiculus very short, rounded. Stamen fascicles each with 25-40 stamens, longest 0.8-1.2 cm, ca. 0.7 × as long as petals. Ovary ovoid to subglobose, 3-4.5 × 3-3.5 mm; styles (6.5-)7-8(-8.5) mm, 1.5-2.5 × as long as ovary; stigmatic mass subglobose. Capsule broadly ovoid, 8-9 × ca. 6 mm. Seeds 1-2 mm, with apical expansion; testa ?linear-reticulate. Fl. Apr-Aug, fr. ?May-Sep.

● On well-drained banks or in stony areas; sea level to 500 m. N Taiwan (Taibei).

The long sepals easily distinguish Hypericum formosanum from all other species in H. sect. Takasagoya except H. nakamurae, which has larger flowers and elliptic to obovate leaves.