Hypericum bequaertii (Nomenclature)
Shrub or tree to 10(-12) m tall, often rather bushy, with branches ascending. Stems red when young, soon terete; internodes 2-6 mm long, much shorter than leaves;bark grey-brown. Leaves[1] sessile; lamina (10-)18-55(-60) x 4-15 mm, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly elliptic, acute, margin plane, base cuneate, reflexed-auriculate, concolorous, often glaucous, subcoriaceous, lower ones soon deciduous; venation: (3)5 basal or near-basal veins, unbranched, alternating with numerous parallel dichotomising (non-functional ?) secondary veins, without midrib branches or cross-veins; laminar glands in secondary venous system, uninterrupted, alternating with ± irregular series of small dots, and with a few scattered large resin glands; marginal glands pale, sparse. Inflorescence 1-flowered; pedicel c. 10 mm long; bracts foliar but smaller and broader. Flowers 40-75 mm in diam., cyathiform to campanulate; buds ovoid, acute. Sepals 14-20 x 8-12 mm, imbricate, ± unequal, soon recurved in bud, broadly to narrowly ovate, acute to subacute, margin entire to irregularly denticulate or ciliolate, midrib undifferentiated; laminar glands linear, numerous; submarginal glands absent or rarely few; marginal glands absent or dark. Petals orange (? to bright yellow), flushed red outside, persistent, erect, 27-35 x 16-25 mm, 1.7-2 x sepals, obovate, with apiculus small, rounded; margin entire, eglandular; laminar glands linear, interrupted distally. Stamen fascicles persistent, each with c. 30 stamens, longest 20-28 mm long, c. 0.7 x petals, with filaments united for 2-5 mm. Ovary c. 10 x 5 mm, ovoid-cylindric; styles c. 12 mm long, c. 1.2 x ovary, 0.75 coherent, suberect distally; stigmas subglobose, sometimes bilobed. Capsule 20-22 x 13-15 mm, ovoid-cylindric.Seeds dark reddish-brown, c. 1-5 mm long, cylindric, not carinate, linear-reticulate.
[1]The leaves and petals in the text figures are all three-quarters of natural size unless otherwise indicated.
‘In moist or protected localities, co-dominant in open forest or bush, occurring in the upper part of the ericaceous belt and the lower part of the alpine belt' (Hedberg, 1957: 131); (3150)3350-4350 m.
H. bequaertii has the greatest number of primitive characters of any species of Hypericum. These include the parallel-dichotomous leaf venation, the large, solitary flowers with massive parts, and the virtual absence of dark glands. The cyathiform corolla and the relatively long union of the stamen filaments could be either primitive or specialisations associated with high-altitude conditions. H. bequaertii is closely related to H. revolutum subsp. keniense, which also occurs on Ruwenzori but has a lower (but overlapping) altitudinal range and appears to grow in somewhat drier habitats. H. bequaertii may be distinguished from it by the persistently cyathiform to campanulate, largely red-tinged corolla. Both these taxa are distinguished from the remaining mainland species of sect. Campylosporus by the presence of a papillose epidermis (cf. Spirlet, 1967: 13-19).