Hypericum ekmanii (Nomenclature)
Shrub up to 0.75 m tall, erect, forming thickets, with branches ascending, pseudo-dichotomous and sometimes lateral. Stems orange-brown, 4-lined and compressed when young, the subfoliar ridges broad, soon 2-lined, eventually terete, cortex exfoliating at first in strips between subfoliar ridges; internodes 2-4 mm long. Leaves with short petiole (0.5-1 mm long), densely spreading or imbricate, tetrastichous, deciduous above petiole without fading; lamina 6-10 x 2-4 mm, elliptic, plane to slightly concave, scarcely cucullate, midrib not or slightly prominent beneath, margin incurved, not incrassate, concolorous, not glaucous or slightly so beneath, subcoriaceous; apex acuminate to apiculate, base angustate to cuneate, the petioles not sheathing but united to form very narrow interfoliar ridge; basal vein 1, with 1 short near-basal pair of branches or unbranched; laminar glands dense, visible on both sides. Inflorescence 1 -flowered, with pseudo-dichotomous branches from node below; pedicel 3-10 mm long, not incrassate upwards; upper leaves not transitional. Flowers c. 12-15 mm in diam., stellate. Sepals 5-6 x 1-2-5 mm, unequal to equal narrowly oblong to oblanceolate-spathulate, acute to subacuminate; veins 3, unbranched, with midrib not prominent, glands linear, punctiform in distal ¼. Petals deep? yellow, 8-10 x 2-4 mm, c. 1.5 x sepals, oblong-oblanceolate; apiculus subacute; glands nearly all punctiform. Stamens c. 80, longest 5-6 mm long, c. 0.6 x petals. Ovary 2x1 mm, narrowly ovoid; styles 3, 5-6 mm long, 2.5-3 x ovary, diverging-incurved; stigmas clavate. Capsule 3-6 x 2-3 mm, ellipsoid, shorter than sepals. Seeds 1.2 mm long, ecarinate; testa finely ribbed-scalariform.
On rocky slopes in cloud forest; 1300-2550 m.
Dominican Republic (Sierra de Ocoa).
Ekman (on the back of the label) states that the species is quite common in 'these mountains' (i.e. Sierra de Ocoa) and occurs at 1300 m near Bejucal. The gap in distribution between H. ekmanii (Hispaniola) and its nearest relative, H. caracasanum subsp. turumiquirense (NE. Venezuela), is likely to have resulted from long-distance dispersal and therefore cannot be adduced to support the theory that North and South America were originally linked via the Greater Antilles and the Yucatan Peninsula (see p. x).