Hypericum fasciculatum (Nomenclature)
Shrub to 1 .5(-3) m tall, erect, much branched above but not tree-like, with branches erect or narrowly ascending. Stems orange-brown, 6-lined and strongly ancipitous when young, soon narrowly 2-winged, eventually terete; cortex exfoliating in thin papery sheets or plates exposing red bark beneath; bark either corky or spongy with inconspicuous laticifers, thick. Leaves dark green (cf. H. chapmanii), sessile, (8-)10-17(-20) x 0.7-1 mm, with those in axils as long, linear-subulate, sometimes slightly broadened distally, with margin revolute, overarching all but the raised midrib area beneath and forming 2 longitudinal grooves lined with papillae, chartaceous to subcoriaceous, deciduous at basal articulation, apex rounded-apiculate to acute, base parallel; midrib unbranched; laminar glands dense, in 2 often uneven rows beneath and scattered above. Inflorescence (3-)7-32-flowered, without accessory flowers, sometimes with single flowers or 3-5-flowered dichasia from up to 3 nodes below, the main inflorescence sometimes reverting to vegetative growth before producing more flowers, the whole rounded-pyramidal to corymbiform; pedicels absent or almost so; bracts foliar. Flowers 13-16 mm in diam.; buds ovoid, acute. Sepals 5, (3)4.5-8(- 10) x 0.5 mm, unequal, linear-subulate, acute, with margin revolute, 1 -veined, midrib unbranched, eventually deciduous. Petals 5, bright yellow, 6-9 x 4-5 mm, c. 1.2 x sepals, obovate-spathulate, with apiculus lateral, acute. Stamens c. 70-100, longest 5-6.5 mm, 0.7-0.85 x petals. Ovary 3-merous, 2.5-3 x 1-1.5 mm, very narrowly pyramidal-ovoid, acute, placentation parietal; styles 3, 2.5-3 mm long, equalling ovary, separating in fruit. Capsule 5.5 x 2.5-3 mm, ovoid-conic to ovoid-ellipsoid, 3-sulcate. Seeds dull brown, c. 0.4 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely foveolate-reticulate.
2n = 1 8 (n = 9, Adams in Robson & Adams, 1968).
Margins of cypress ponds and lakes, marshes and ditches; lowland.
U.S.A. (southeastern North Carolina to southern Mississippi and southern Louisiana (Ajilvsgi, 1979), including all Florida).
The epithet fasciculatum refers to the crowded leaves of the axillary shoots, which in this species are usually as long or almost as long as the subtending ones, in contrast to those of species of the H. nitidum group, where they are usually shorter than the subtending leaves. In addition, H. fasciculatum differs from H. nitidum in its thicker, sometimes spongy bark; its leaves with the lower surface raised, forming two lateral grooves; its inflorescence, which is more corymbiform than cylindric; and its ovoid-ellipsoid rather than cylindric capsules. Both species occur (in the United States) from southern N. Carolina to southern Alabama, but the distribution of H. fasciculatum extends throughout peninsular Florida and into Mississippi, whereas H. nitidum subsp. nitidum does not occur south of the Florida panhandle or west of Alabama.
The Lamarck specimen is labelled merely 'Carolina', whereas the BM specimen has 'Carolina australis' and the Geneva and Kew specimens 'Carolina med.'; but they may all be duplicates of one Fraser collection.
Adams (1962) suggested that the epithet ‘fulgidum’ might apply to H. fasciculatum, despite the absence of that species today from Louisiana. I have not seen the type, but the description could also apply to either of the small ('2ft') linear-leaved members of sect. Myriandra that do occur in that state, viz. H. galioides and H. brachyphyllum.