Hypericum umbraculoides (Nomenclature)
Shrub, deciduous. Stems reddish, 2-lined (?) and ancipitous when young, soon terete; internodes 10-20 mm long, shorter than leaves; bark grey, cortex fissuring. Leaves sessile; lamina 30-58 x 17-30 mm, oblong to elliptic-oblong, subapiculate to rounded, margin plane, base cordate-amplexicaul, paler beneath, not glaucous, thinly chartaceous; venation: 7-9 pairs main laterals and midrib branches (not distinct), with tertiary reticulation dense, conspicuous, ± prominent beneath; laminar glands varying in size; intramarginal glands dense. Inflorescence 3-c. 16-flowered, terminal, corymbiform to pseudumbellate, from apical node only; pedicels 6-17 mm long; bracts not seen, caducous. Flowers c. 22-30 mm in diam., stellate; buds narrowly cylindric-ellipsoid, rounded. Sepals 3-4.5 x 2.5-3.5, imbricate, unequal, broadly oblong to ovate-oblong, rounded, margin entire; c. 13-15-veined, with veins unbranched, midrib prominent; laminar glands linear. Petals golden ? yellow, not tinged red, spreading to reflexed, 14-17 x 7-8 mm, 4-5 x sepals, oblanceolate, with apiculus lateral, subrounded, almost lobiform, margin entire, eglandular. Stamen fascicles totalling 45-50 stamens, longest 10-12 mm long, c. 0.7 x petals; anthers yellow. Ovary 4-5 x 1.5-2 mm, narrowly pyramidal; styles 9-10 mm long, c. 2 x ovary, possibly shortly coherent at the base, eventually (or always ?) free, gradually outcurved. Capsule and seeds unknown.
Mexico (Oaxaca).
H. umbraculoides which has as yet been collected only once and appears to be restricted to a small area on the south side of the Cordillera in Oaxaca State, is clearly an ancient relict, its nearest relative (H. monogynum, sect. 3) being in China. Its leaf-shape and glandularity, pseudo-umbellate inflorescence and general floral morphology all indicate this relationship, although it is more advanced in having '3' persistent stamen fascicles and 3 styles that are not more than shortly coherent at the base.