Hypericum lacei (Nomenclature)
Shrub, with stems probably erect, not or weakly (?) frondose. Stems orange, 4-lined and ancipitous when young, eventually terete; internodes 10-20 mm long, shorter than leaves; bark reddish-brown. Leaves petiolate, with petiole c. 1 mm long; lamina 25-51 x 8-18 mm, oblong to elliptic-oblong, apiculate-obtuse, margin plane, base cuneate, densely glaucous beneath, chartaceous; venation: 2-3 pairs main laterals from near base, innermost joining upper laterals to becoming incomplete and ± undulating intramarginal vein, all rather dark (when dry), without visible tertiary reticulum; laminar glands very short streaks and dots; ventral glands dense. Inflorescence 1-6-flowered, from one node, with short apical internode, subcorymbi- form; pedicels 6 mm long; bracts narrowly oblong to lanceolate, deciduous. Flowers 40-50 mm in diam., shallowly cyathiform; buds ovoid, subacute to obtuse. Sepals 5-6 x 3-5 mm, free, imbricate, ± unequal, erect in bud and fruit, elliptic to obovate, obtuse to rounded, usually apiculate, with margin hyaline and minutely eroded- denticulate near apex; midrib sometimes apparent, veins not prominent; laminar glands linear or interrupted, numerous. Petals golden yellow, slightly incurved, 20-25 x 15-17 mm, c. 4 x sepals, obovate, with apiculus subterminal, rounded, margin entire, with a row of inframarginal gland dots. Stamen fascicles each with c. 50 stamens, longest 9-12 mm long, c. 0.35-0.5 x petals; anthers yellow. Ovary 6-7 x 4-5 mm, broadly ovoid to ovoid-conic; styles 5-6 mm long, 0.75 x to almost as long as ovary, free, outcurved towards apex; stigmas small. Capsule 16-20 x 8-10 mm, ovoid-conic. Seeds unknown.
Habitat unknown.
Burma (Shan State).
H. lacei is an apparently narrowly localised species that resembles H. henryi most closely in general; but, in its oblong to elliptic-oblong leaves and square (i.e. not remaining ancipitous) young stems, it is more like H. lagarocladum. It is thus clearly a relict species.