Hypericum gnidioides (Nomenclature)
Subshrub or shrublet (sometimes annual ?) 0.09-1.5 m tall, with taproot, usually bushy, erect; branches from base and below inflorescence, strict or lower ones ascending, rarely decumbent and mat-forming (0.03-0.08 m, 'H. woodsonii'), not rooting. Stems reddish-brown, 4-lined, ancipitous and densely gland-dotted when young, eventually terete, cortex exfoliating in strips; internodes 3-12 mm long. Leaves sessile, spreading from base to closely imbricate, longer than inter- nodes, deciduous above base or persistent (i.e. deciduous with cortex); lamina (3-)5-18(-23) x 0.8-4(-5) mm, narrowly elliptic-oblong to linear or more rarely narrowly lanceolate or (the lower) narrowly oblong-spathulate, margin recurved to revolute and rarely scabrid beneath, paler beneath, not glaucous, coriaceous to subcoriaceous; apex acute or apiculate to obtuse, base angustate or narrowly cuneate to parallel-sided, the pair scarcely forming interfoliar ridge or free; basal veins 1(3), with 1(2) pairs of main ascending lateral midrib branches, tertiary reticulation absent; laminar glands dense, not prominent or slightly so beneath. Inflorescence 1-25-flowered, branching pseudo-dichotomous/sympodial or very rarely wholly or mixed dichasial/monochasial, sometimes with 1 pair of subsidiary branches from node immediately below, or lower laterals flowering; peduncle and pedicels 4-10 mm long, not incrassate upwards;- bracts foliar, gradually reduced. Flowers 6-10 mm in diam., stellate. Sepals 4-8 x 1-2.3 mm, unequal, oblanceolate or oblanceolate-spathulate to oblong or elliptic or linear, acute; veins 5, unbranched, all becoming prominent; glands all linear or punctiform in upper ¼. Petals bright yellow to orange-yellow (? or orange), (5)6-7(-8.5) x 2.5-4.5(-6) mm, l.2(-l.5?) x sepals, oblanceolate to oblong; apiculus acute; glands linear, distally interrupted. Stamens 20-40, longest 3.5-6 mm long, c. 0.75 x petals, fascicles not distinct. Ovary 1.5-1.8 x 0.6-1 mm, narrowly ovoid- ellipsoid; styles 3, 2-3 mm long, c. 1.3-1.5 x ovary, spreading; stigmas broadly capitate. Capsule 3.5-5.5 x 2-3 mm, ovoid-cylindric to cylindric-ellipsoid, trigonous, acute to subrostrate, shorter than or equalling sepals. Seeds c. 0.6 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely scalariform.
Open places in dry Pinus or Pinus-Quercus forest (Honduras), paramo (Costa Rica), and dry grassland, savanna, or lava flows (Panama); 1050-3820 m.
Honduras, Costa Rica (San José), Panama (Chiriqui, Coclé).
H. gnidioides varies widely with the habitat, having relatively broad, spreading leaves in moist places and narrow imbricate ones in drier areas. The mature upper leaves, however, are always relatively narrower than those of H. chamaemyrtus . The habit appears to be extremely variable, but this variation is based on two trends, viz. i) the multiplication of flowers by monochasial or sympodial or mixed branching in the secondary inflorescences (i.e. those formed above the first pseudo-dichotomy) and ii) the formation of lateral branches below this first dichotomy.
H. woodsonii, from exposed habitats at higher altitudes (2500-3800 m) in Panama, is a prostrate form which 'has a low depressed habit and forms dense interlaced mats' [Standley]. The most primitive form of H. gnidioides is in Honduras, whence there is a south-eastward reduction trend to Panama (omitting southern Nicaragua) ending in 'H. woodsonii'.