川鄂金丝桃 chuan e jin si tao

Shrubs, 0.5-1 m tall; branches spreading or pendulous to somewhat prostrate. Stems 4-lined and ancipitous when young, becoming 2-lined, eventually terete; internodes 1-4.5 cm, shorter than to ca. as long as leaves. Leaves with petiole 0.5-1.5 mm; blade elliptic or elliptic-lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, 2.3-5.5(-6) × (0.6-)1.2-2.9 cm, thickly papery, abaxially paler or ± glaucous; laminar glands dots and short to longish streaks; abaxial glands sparse or absent; main lateral veins 4- or 5-paired, tertiary reticulation scarcely visible; base broadly cuneate to rounded, apex subacute or apiculate-obtuse to rounded. Inflorescence (1-)3- to ca. 22-flowered, from 1(or 2) nodes, nearly round-topped; bracts narrow lanceolate to leaflike, persistent. Pedicels 0.8-1.2 cm. Flowers 4-5(-6) cm in diam., stellate; buds narrowly ovoid-conic, apex acute to acuminate. Sepals ± erect, equal, lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, 7-10 × 2-4.5 mm, laminar glands lines, margin entire, apex acutely acuminate to short aristate. Petals golden yellow, obovate, 2-2.5 × 1.2-2 cm, 2.5-3 × as long as sepals; margin entire or distally minutely glandular-denticulate; apiculus acute. Stamen fascicles each with 30-35 stamens, longest 1-1.5 cm, 0.35-0.5 × as long as petals. Ovary ± broadly ovoid, 5-6 × 3-3.5 mm; styles 7-9 mm, 1.5-1.8 × as long as ovary, free, erect, outcurved at apex. Capsule shallowly 5-lobed, ovoid, 7-12 × 5-8 mm. Seeds dark reddish brown, ca. 1 mm, distally shallowly winged; testa linear-reticulate. Fl. Apr-Jul, fr. Aug-Sep.

● Open forests, thickets on slopes, grasslands; 1000-1800 m. W Hubei, ?Hunan.

Hypericum wilsonii takes further the trend toward a spreading habit described in H. lagarocladum, but in addition has acute to acuminate flower buds and relatively longer styles. The record from Hunan has not been substantiated, and one from SW Sichuan (Huidong) is erroneous.