Hypericum monroi (Nomenclature)
Shrub 0.5-1.5 m tall, erect, with branches strict, lateral and pseudo-dichotomous. Stems ferrugineous, 4-lined to terete, cortex eventually exfoliating irregularly; internodes 2.5-4.5 mm long. Leaves sessile, dark green, densely to loosely imbricate, spreading to outcurving and twisting, not tetrastichous, deciduous above base without fading; lamina 6-12 ´ 0.4-1.2 mm, linear, incurved but not cucullate, midrib impressed beneath, margin not or very narrowly hyaline, concolorous, not glaucous, coriaceous; apex acicular, base parallel, not sheathing, pairs united to form narrow interfoliar ridge; vein 1, unbranched; laminar glands dense, not or scarcely visible beneath. Inflorescence 1-flowered, often with pseudo-dichotomous branches from node below; pedicel 1-2 mm long, not incrassate upwards; upper leaves not transitional. Flowers 8-10(-15?) mm in diam, stellate (to urceolate?). Sepals 5-7 ´ 0.7-1.1 mm, linear, acute, erect, margin very narrowly hyaline towards base or not at all ; veins 5, midrib not prominent; glands linear. Petals bright egg-yolk yellow (vitellinus), 8-9 ´c. 5 mm, c. 1.5 ´ sepals, obovate; apiculus sharply acute; glands shortly striiform, very sparse or absent. Stamensc. 30, longest 4-6 mm long, 0.5-0.7 ´ petals. Ovary 1.5 ´ 1.5 mm, ovoid-subglobose; styles 3, 2 mm long, 1.3 ´ ovary; stigmas distinctly capitate. Capsule 4-5 ´c. 3 mm, ovoid-subglobose. Seeds not seen.
Open grass-shrub paramo, often in seepage or marshy areas; 2300-3300 m.
Costa Rica/Panama border region.
H. monroi is related to H. costaricense, which grows in the same region. Its leaves,however, are not tetrastichous but often longer and spreading to outcurving and twisting, with a scarcely hyaline margin; the pedicels are shorter and the flowers smaller. It tends to grow at lower altitudes and in wetter habitats than H. costaricense.