Hypericum asahinae (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb 0.15–0.3(–0.35) m tall, erect to ascending from branching rootstock, with stems ± numerous, caespitose, sometimes branching from below inflorescence. Stems terete (‘var.’ siroumense) or upper nodes slightly 2-lined and ancipitous (‘var.’ asahinae), eglandular; internodes 15–30 mm, about equalling leaves. Leaves sessile; lamina 20–30(–35) × 9–15(–18) mm, ovate-lanceolate to lanceolate or (lower) elliptic, paler beneath, chartaceous; apex subacute to rounded, margin plane, base cordate-subamplexicaul to broadly cuneate; venation: 2–4 pairs of main veins from lower third to base of midrib, tertiary reticulation rather dense, visible on both sides; laminar glands black, sometimes also pale, punctiform, minute, scattered, especially towards base, apex and margin; intramarginal glands black or a few pale, dense. Inflorescence 5-c. 20-flowered, from up to 3 nodes, sometimes with branches from node below, the whole loosely cylindric to subcorymbiform; peduncles elongate, slender, pedicels 1–3 mm; bracts reduced-foliar, bracteoles linear. Flowers (18–)20–25 mm in diam., stellate; buds ellipsoid, obtuse. Sepals 5, subequal, (3–)3.5–6 × (0.7–)1–1.3 mm, lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, acute, entire [or rarely with one prominent gland fide Kimura fig.]; veins 3–5, outer branched; laminar glands black, linear to punctiform; marginal glands black, few or usually absent. Petals 5, yellow, sometimes tinged red, 9–13(–15) × 4–6.3 mm, c. 2.5–3 × sepals, oblong-obovate, rounded, entire; laminar glands black, linear to punctiform; marginal glands black, 1–2 or usually absent. Stamens c. 50 (or more?), ‘3’-fascicled, longest 7–10 mm, 0.65–0.75 × petals; anther gland black. Ovary 2.5–4 × 1.5–2.5? mm, ovoid to ovoid-cylindric; styles 3, free, spreading?, 5–8 mm, 1.5–2.7 × ovary; stigmas narrow. Capsule and seeds not seen.
70–1700 m.
Japan (mountains of central and western Honshū).
Hypericum asahinae has a bitopic distribution (Nagano-Ishikawa; Hyōgo-Tottori). The type, from Tottori, has the inflorescence of 33a. H. ovalifolium var. hisauchii, but the flowers are smaller (size of H. ovalifolium var. ovalifolium) and the upper leaves and bracts are relatively broad. Var. siroumense has a few-flowered inflorescence, and the leaves are all narrow (lanceolate to narrowly oblong or elliptic). Both varieties have the leaf apex rounded to subacute and narrow acute sepals, characters in which they differ from their nearest relative, H. ovalifolium subsp. ovalifolium; and H. asahinae var. siroumense grows on the same mountain as H. ovalifolium subsp. ovalifolium (Mt. Shiroume).
Examination of further material may allow a decision to be made as to whether these two populations deserve subspecific or even specific status. For the present, it seems prudent to maintain the species undivided.