Hypericum punctatum (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb 0.13–1.05 m tall, erect, not creeping and rarely rooting at base, branching above or at most nodes with branches ascending. Stems terete, often turning vinous red, uniformly black-gland-dotted or shortly -streaked; internodes 10–50 mm, slightly exceeding to shorter than leaves. Leaves sessile or rarely up to 1 mm petiolate; lamina 14–40(–58) × 3–17(–22.5) mm, triangular-lanceolate or lanceolate or oblong to elliptic or oblanceolate, paler beneath, chartaceous; apex rounded to retuse or rarely obtuse to acute, margin plane, base cordate to narrowly cuneate; venation: (3)4(5) main laterals from base to lower half of midrib, tertiary reticulation dense, rather obscure, visible beneath; laminar glands mostly pale to all black, punctiform, small, dense; intramarginal glands black, dense. Inflorescence 10–60-flowered, from 3 nodes, dense to rather lax but with partial inflorescences dense, sometimes with subsidiary branches from up to 12 nodes below, the whole subcorymbiform to cylindric and up to 200 (more rarely to 600)-flowered; pedicels 1–2.5 mm; upper leaves reduced to bracteose; bracteoles 1–4.5 mm long, linear-subulate, entire. Flowers 8–15 mm in diam., stellate; buds ovoid, subacute, not red-tinged. Sepals 5, subequal, free, (1.5–)2–4 × 0.8–1.6 mm, lanceolate or oblong-lanceolate to elliptic or ovate-elliptic, acute to rounded, entire and eglandular or rarely with few sessile glands; veins 5–3; laminar glands all pale to all black, linear to punctiform, dense; marginal glands absent or few, black, sessile. Petals 5, pale yellow, not red-tinged, 3–6(–9) × (1.5–)1.9–2.5(–3.5) mm, 1.5 × sepals, oblanceolate to elliptic, obtuse, entire; laminar glands all or mostly black, linear to usually punctiform; marginal glands black, distal, sessile. Stamens (20–)30–60, ‘3’-fascicled, longest (3–)4.3–6(–9) mm, equalling petals; anther gland black. Ovary 1.3–4 × (1.3?–)1.5–2.5(–3.5?), broadly ovoid; styles 3, 1–4 mm, 1–1.3 × ovary; stigmas narrowly capitate. Capsule 2.5–4.4(–6) × 2–3.5(–4) mm, ovoid to subglobose, longitudinally vittate or with scattered elongate to ovoid vesicles (sometimes black). Seeds dark brown, 0.5–0.7 mm long; testa densely linear-reticulate.
[2n = 16]; n = 8 (Hoar, 1931, Robson & Adams, 1968; both counts reported a ring of 16 in pollen mother cells, and Hoar found one in megaspore mother cells also), 7? (Bell, 1965; Bell lists this number, but there are 8 chromosomes in his illustration).
Open or slightly shaded, dry to marshy habitats; 80–1200 m.
Eastern and central USA and adjacent southeastern Canada.
Hypericum punctatum is most closely related to the western, narrower-leaved form of 6. H. formosum, differing from it in (i) the smaller flowers with usually obtuse to rounded sepals, (ii) the more crowded partial inflorescences, (iii) the smaller, usually obtuse to rounded and differently shaped leaves, and (iv) the gland-dotted stems. It is quite variable over its wide range, especially in leaf shape, but is unlikely to be confused with any other U.S. species, especially if the anther glands are examined. These are black, whereas those of 7. H. pseudomaculatum are amber with almost no exceptions; and, when the spreading inflorescence and usually acute leaves of the latter are also considered, there are no grounds for confusion remaining.
At meiosis H. punctatum behaves as a structural hybrid, forming a ring of 16 chromosomes at anaphase. In this it resembles 1x. H.×mitchellianum (q. v.), which circumstantial evidence suggests is the hybrid between H. punctatum and 1. H. graveolens.
Of the five specimens of maculatum [var.] subpetiolatum in NY collected by Bicknell before 1901, the most typical (although not the most complete) is the one chosen as lectotype. I agree with Culwell (1970) that this extreme form is not worthy of taxonomic recognition.