楚雄金丝桃 chu xiong jin si tao

Shrubs to ca. 1.5 m tall; branches erect to spreading. Stems 4-lined when young, soon terete; internodes 2-4 cm, shorter than leaves. Leaves with petiole 1-2 mm; blade narrowly ovate to lanceolate, 3.5-5 × 1.3-2.2 cm, abaxially paler; laminar glands short streaks to dots; abaxial glands dense; main lateral veins 4(or 5)-paired, without visible tertiary reticulation; base rounded, apex obtuse to rounded. Inflorescence 1- or 2-flowered, from apical node; bracts deciduous, linear. Pedicels 5-7 mm. Flowers 4-4.5 cm in diam., ± deeply cupped; buds not recorded. Sepals spreading, recurved in fruit, oblong to elliptic-oblong, subequal, 10-11 × 4.5-5 mm; laminar glands lines becoming streaks near apex, not becoming impressed (sepals not apparently ribbed) margin entire, apex broadly obtuse or apiculate-obtuse. Petals golden-yellow, broadly obovate, 2-2.5 × 1.5-2 cm, 2-2.5 × as long as sepals; margin entire, eglandular; apiculus rounded. Stamen fascicles each with ca. 75 stamens, longest ca. 8 mm, 0.35-0.4 × as long as petals. Ovary narrowly ovoid, ca. 8 × 5 mm; styles spreading-outcurved, 4-5 mm, 0.5-0.65 × as long as ovary, free. Capsule narrowly ovoid-cylindric, 1.8-2.3 × 1-1.2 cm. Seeds reddish brown, 0.8-1 mm, scarcely carinate; testa linear-reticulate. Fl. May-?Jul, fr. Aug.

● Evergreen forest understories; ca. 2400 m. C Yunnan (Chuxiong).

Hypericum fosteri is related to the widespread H. hookerianum and the N Thailand endemic H. siamense N. Robson. It differs from the former in the oblong to oblanceolate-spatulate, spreading-outcurved sepals, which are not ribbed, and in the elongate (not ovoid) capsule.