Hypericum hypericoides (L.) Cr.

Shrub to wiry shrublet (0.05-)0.1-1 2(-l .5) m tall, erect or decumbent to prostrate, unbranched or with sparse lateral branches or branched from base and diffuse, sometimes mat-forming, lateral branches erect or spreading, sometimes also branched pseudo- dichotomously. Stems red-brown, 2-winged, the subsidiary lines only visible when very young; cortex exfoliating in thin strips or flakes; bark thin, reddish brown, not corky. Leaves sessile, spreading to rarely ascending, (5-)7-25(-34) x (1-)1.5-6(-8.5) mm, oblanceolate to narrowly oblong or linear, margin subrecurved, slightly paler beneath, not glaucous, subcoriaceous, eventually deciduous just above base, apex rounded to obtuse, base rounded or usually cuneate with paired basal glandiform auricles; venation: 1- 2 pairs of basal or near-basal veins sometimes visible, tertiary reticulation obscure or not visible; laminal glands dense. Inflorescence 1-3-flowered from 1-4 nodes, sometimes with flowering branches from up to 10 nodes below, the whole narrowly cylindric to narrowly pyramidal, or sometimes with a pair of inflorescences of the above type developing from one pseudo-dichotomous branching, or branching wholly pseudo-dichotomous; peduncle + pedicel 3-6 mm long, pedicel up to c. 1 mm (i.e. bracteoles touching or very near sepals); bracts foliar; bracteoles triangular-subulate. Flowers 10-15(-20) mm in diam.; buds compressed-globose to compressed-ellipsoid. Sepals 4, markedly unequal, enlarging somewhat in fruit; outer 5-12.5 x (2-)4-12(-13) mm, ovate-suborbicular to narrowly elliptic, obtuse or subapiculate to acute, margin plane, base shallowly cordate to broadly cuneate, basal veins 3, outer pair branched; inner minute or obsolete, up to c. 4 x 2 mm, lanceolate, acute, basal veins 3, outer pair branched. Petals 4, bright to pale yellow, (6-)8- 11 (- 12) x 2-4(-5) mm, 1(-1.5) x outer sepals, obovate to narrowly oblong-elliptic, apiculus subapical, obtuse (very short) or absent. Stamens c. 40-50, longest 3-5 mm long, c. 0.5 x petals. Ovary 2-merous, 3-4 x 0.8-1.5 mm, narrowly ovoid, acute, placentation parietal; styles 2, 0.5-1 mm long, becoming outcurved. Capsule 5-9 x 2-4 mm, narrowly compressed-ovoid to narrowly compressed-cylindric-ellipsoid, acute. Seeds purple-brown, 0.6-0.8 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely linear-reticulate to linear-foveolate.