Hypericum decandrum (Nomenclature)
Shrub orshrublet (or perennial herb?) 0.1-0.6 m tall, erect or decumbent and rooting with branches strict, basal (from decumbent and rooting portion) and pseudo-dichotomous or sometimes lateral. Stems reddish-brown to yellowish-brown, 4-6-lined when young, soon 2-lined, eventually terete, cortex exfoliating in irregular flakes; internodes 1-5 mm long. Leavessessile, erect and subimbricate to narrowly spreading or slightly outcurving, deciduous above the base before fading; lamina 4-15 x 0.7-3 mm, ± narrowly oblanceolate to narrowly oblong, ± incurved-cucullate, midrib distally prominent otherwise impressed or plane beneath, concolorous or with margin rather narrowly hyaline, lustrous pale green, not glaucous, subcoriaceous; apex acute, base angustate, broadening below, not or scarcely sheathing, pairs united to form narrow interfoliar ridge; basal vein 1, unbranched or with 1-2 pairs of obscure lateral branches; laminar glands dense, visible above only, or obscure. Inflorescence 1 -flowered, with pseudo-dichotomous branches from node below; pedicel 2.5-7 mm long; upper leaves not transitional. Flowers 6-20 mm in diam., stellate. Sepals 3.5-9 x 1-3 mm, narrowly elliptic to narrowly oblong, acute, compressed-cucullate, green (not reddish); veins 5-7, unbranched, sometimes becoming prominent; glands linear, punctiform in distal third to half. Petals bright yellow tinged red (? always), 5-9 x 2-3 mm, 0.9-1.2 x sepals, obovate-oblong to oblanceolate-oblong; apiculus acute; glands absent. Stamens (5)10-45, longest 2.5-4 mm long, c. 0.5 x petals. Ovary 2.5-3 x 1-1.5 mm, ellipsoid; styles 3(4), 1.5-3 mm long, c. 0.5-1 x ovary, divergent; stigma narrowly to broadly capitate. Capsule 3-5.5 x 2-3 mm, ellipsoid to cylindric-ellipsoid, shorter than sepals. Seeds 0.7-0.8 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely scalariform.
In grassy or shrubby slopes of the paramo and subparamo; (2200 ?) 2700-3930 m.
Ecuador (in scattered localities from Carchi to Loja), Peru (Amazonas).
H. decandrum is most frequent towards the south of Ecuador and absent or rare in some central parts of that country. It is related to H. cassiopiforme but differs in the longer, often narrower, less closely imbricate leaves and the smaller flowers with shorter, capitate styles. It is quite variable, the most reduced, weaker-stemmed form from the extreme south of its range being considerably different from the sturdy northern plants.