Hypericum lancioides (Nomenclature)
Shrub c. 0.1-1 m tall, erect and bushy or ± decumbent and caespitose, branches strict, pseudo-dichotomous and lateral, or spreading (very rarely pinnate). Stems orange-brown, 6-lined and compressed when young, the subfoliar ridges broad, eventually terete, cortex splitting between and below subfoliar ridges; internodes 0.5-4(-6*) mm. Leaves sessile or rarely narrowing to a pseudopetiole up to 2 mm long, ascending to subimbricate, sometimes tetrastichous, deciduous above base (or pseudopetiole) after twisting spirally; lamina 7-15 x l-l.4(-4*) mm, very narrowly elliptic-oblong to linear incurved to canaliculate or rarely subconduplicate, ± markedly cucullate, midrib impressed beneath, margin distinct, narrowly to rather broader hyaline, concolorous, lucent beneath, undulate-subpapillose above, glaucous or not, coriaceous to somewhat succulent; apex acute, base angustate to parallel-sided, not or scarcely sheathing, pairs united to form narrow interfoliar ridge; basal vein 1, unbranched; laminar glandsrather sparse, usually visible above only but sometimes biseriate beneath. Inflorescence l(3)-flowered, with pseudo-dichotomous branches from node below and sometimes short, often congested, lateral branches (racemiform); pedicel absent or up to 4 mm long; upper leaves not transitional. Flowers 10-16 mm in diam., stellate. Sepals (5-)6-8 x 0.5-1.5 mm, oblanceolate-oblong to oblong or rarely linear, unequal to subequal, acute, cucullate, margin ± broadly hyaline; veins 3-5, unbranched or outer branched, all not or slightly prominent; glands linear, punctiform in upper third. Petals yellow, 8-11 x 2.5-4 mm, c. 1.5 x sepals, narrowly obovate-oblong; apiculus acute to acuminate; glands linear, distally punctiform. Stamens 25-40, longest 3.5-5 mm long, c. 0.5 x petals. Ovary 1.5-2.5 x 0.8-1.5 mm, ellipsoid to subglobose; styles 3(4), l-2(-3*) mm long, 0-5-0-9(-l-l*) x ovary, outcurved to suberect; stigmas broadly capitate. Capsule 4-5 x 1.5-2.5 mm, ovoid-ellipsoid to cylindric-eUipsoid, shorter than sepals. Seeds 0.8-1 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely scalariform.
In damp (sometimes marshy) or sheltered areas of the open paramo; 2870-4700 m.
Western Venezuela (Mérida), Colombia (Santandér to Nariño) and northern Ecuador (Carchi to Cotopaxi).
H. lancioides differs from H. ruscoides especially in its narrower, 1-veined, sessile leaves, narrower sepals and shorter styles. One collection from Colombia, Putumayo (Schultes & Villareal 7821), has relatively broad, petiolate leaves and longer styles (see characters marked*).
H. lancioidesis variable and comprises two subspecies, one (subsp. lancioides) with its most primitive form in southern Colombia and extending from there north to Cundinamarca and south to Cotopaxi, has a simply pseudo-dichotomous inflorescence, whereas the other (subsp. congestiflorum) occurs from Cauca north-east to Mérida and has lateral flowers crowded below the terminal flower. Intermediate specimens between the subspecies occur in Cauca.