Hypericum dichotomum (Nomenclature)
Shrublet or wiry perennial herb, 0.06-0.2 m tall and to c. 0.4 m long, with taproot, erect or decumbent to trailing and rooting, sometimes mat-forming; branches from below inflorescence and lateral, sometimes also basal, divaricate. Stems reddish-brown, 4-lined, ancipitous and densely gland- dotted at first, eventually terete, cortex exfoliating in strips; internodes 1-18 mm long. Leaves sessile, suberect to spreading, longer to shorter than internodes, persistent; lamina 1.5-6 x 0.5-2.5 mm, oblong-elliptic or oblanceolate to obovate, margin plane, entire, not cucullate, midrib prominent beneath, concolorous, sometimes glaucous, subcoriaceous to chartaceous; apex subacute (or rarely acute) to rounded, base parallel-sided to narrowly cuneate, free; basal vein 1, sometimes obscurely branched; laminar glands dense, prominent on both sides. Inflorescence 1-5-flowered, branching repeatedly pseudo-dichotomous/sympodial and some times dichasial-monochasial, without subsidiary branches; peduncle and pedicels 2-7 mm long, not incrassate upwards; bracts and bracteoles foliar, not reduced. Flowers 4-5 mm in diam., infundibuliform? Sepals 2.5-4 x 1-1.8 mm, unequal, narrowly oblong or oblanceolate to obovate-spathulate, acute to rounded; veins 3-5, unbranched, becoming prominent; glands linear, distally punctiform. Petals bright (?) yellow to yellow-orange, 3.5-5 x 1-1.5 mm, c. 1.5 x sepals, oblong-oblanceolate; apiculus acute?; glands distal, punctiform. Stamens c. 10-15, longest 3.5-4 mm long, c. 0.8 x petals, in 5 distinct fascicles. Ovary 1-1.5 x 0.5-0.8 mm, ellipsoid, acute to obtuse, exceeding sepals; styles 3, 1.5-2.5 mm long, 2-2.5 x ovary, very slender, spreading; stigma peltate. Capsule 3.5-5 x 2-4 mm, ovoid-ellipsoid to subglobose, acute to obtuse, exceeding sepals. Seeds 0.6-0.7 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely scalariform.
Open, often wet places at roadsides and in Pinus forest and cloud forest; 1200-3000 m.
Dominican Republic (La Vega, Benefactor [San Juan], Santiago), Haiti (Ouest).
H. dichotomum has relatively broader leaves than H. fuertesii with the apex usually obtuse to rounded; the sepals, petals, styles, and capsules are also shorter, and the angle of the pseudo-dichotomies is usually wider. Thus, even though the distributional areas of these two species overlap, the species themselves apparently remain distinct. The most primitive form of H. fuertesii is in the Cordillera Central, whereas that of H. dichotomum is in southern Haiti (Massif de la Selle). The latter form is morphologically nearest to H. fuertesii, but the broader (acute) leaves and wider branching are distinctive.