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Nomenclature
Hypericum majus (A.Gray) Britton
Nomenclature
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Section: sect. TrigynobrathysSubsection: subsect. Knifa
Media
DIAGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION
Perennial herb 0.05-0.6(-0.7) m tall, erect, with stems few or solitary, without or with few branches, not rooting, with taproot. Stems green, 4-angled, scarcely ancipitous above; internodes 10-40 mm long; the upper usually exceeding leaves. Leaves sessile to subamplexicaul (upper), erect or spreading, not tetrastichous, persistent; lamina (10-)15-40(-45) x (2-)6-12 mm, lanceolate to narrowly oblong- elliptic in smaller plants or (lower) oblanceolate, plane, not cucullate, midrib prominent beneath, smooth, concolorous, not glaucous, chartaceous; apex acute to rounded, margin entire, base narrowly cuneate to subcordate, not sheathing, free; basal or near-basal veins (3)5-7, with less prominent ascending midrib branches, tertiary reticulation dense; laminar glands dense, punctiform, not prominent. Inflorescence 3-c. 30-flowered, terminal, branching regularly dichasial, with ascending pairs of flowering branches from up to 5 nodes below, the whole compactly corymbiform to cylindric; pedicels 3-5 mm long; uppermost leaves and bracts subulate, entire. Flowers 6-7 mm in diam., stellate. Sepals (3.5-)4.-6.5 x 0.8-1.5 mm, equal, not imbricate, lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, acute, margin entire; veins 3-5, unbranched, not prominent; glands absent. Petals golden (?) yellow, occasionally veined red outside, 3.5-6 x 1.25-1.75 mm, equalling or slightly shorter than sepals, oblanceolate; apiculus obtuse; glands absent. Stamens 12-21, obscurely 5-fascicled, longest 2.5-3.5 mm long, c. 0.7 x petals. Ovary 1.5-2 x 0.8-1 mm, ovoid to ellipsoid; styles 3, 0.6-1 mm long, 0.3-0.5 x ovary; stigmas narrowly capitate. Capsule 4-8 x 2.5-3.5 mm, narrowly conic-ellipsoid, exceeding sepals. Seeds 0.5-0.7 (-0.8?) mm long; testa finely linear-scalariform.