Hypericum concinnum (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb or sometimes suffruticose, 0.15-0.33(-0.45) m tall, bushy. erect or more rarely ascending from woody caudex, rarely rooting at the base, branching at most nodes, with branches strict. Stems 4-lined and ± ancipitous at first, eventually terete, eglandular; internodes 3-10 mm, shorter than leaves. Leaves sessile to shortly petiolate (to 0.5 mm), tardily deciduous; lamina 13-32 ´ 1.5-8 mm, narrowly elliptic or narrowly oblong to linear (l:b = 4-10), concolorous, glaucescent?, often conduplicate and sometimes falcate, subcoriaceous; apex acute to subacute, margin entire, base cuneate; venation: 2-3(4) pairs of main laterals from lower 2/5 of midrib, with tertiary reticulation obscure and slightly prominent or invisible; laminar glands punctiform, small, pale and sometimes a few black; intramarginal glands black, spaced (10-12). Inflorescence 1-c. 17-flowered, terminal, often with flowering branches from 1-2 nodes below, the whole then cylindric; pedicels 1-3.5 mm; upper leaf pairs ± bracteose; bracteoles lanceolate to linear-elliptic, entire. Flowers 20-35(-40) mm in diam., stellate or reflexed; buds ovoid-cylindric to ovoid, acute. Sepals unequal, imbricate, 6-9 ´ 2-3 mm, broadly to narrowly ovate, acute to acuminate, entire or ± eroded-denticulate; veins 9-11, branching; laminar glands pale, linear to striiform, and rarely 1-2 black, punctiform; marginal glands black, few or absent. Petals golden yellow, not red-tinged in bud, (10-)12-15 ´ 4-5 mm, c. 1.7-2 ´ sepals, obovate to oblong-obovate, apiculus absent or almost so, margin entire or undulate-crenate; laminar glands pale, linear to striiform; marginal glands black, ± numerous, sessile or impressed. Stamens 40-80(-100?), '3'-fascicled, longest 8-10(-12) mm, c. 0.8 ´ petals; anther gland amber. Ovary 3-locular, 3-4 ´ 1.8-2 mm, narrowly ovoid; styles 3, 6-9(-12) mm, 2-2.7(-3) ´ ovary, free, divergent; stigma narrowly capitate. Capsule 6-9 ´ 4-4.5 mm, narrowly ovoid, about equalling sepals; valves longitudinally vittate. Seeds dark brown, c. 1.5 mm long, cylindric, not carinate or appendiculate; testa minutely and shallowly pitted.
2n = 16 (Raven, Kyhos & Hill, 1965).
Dry slopes and ridges, Yellow Pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest, chaparral; 390-600(-900) m.
U.S.A. (California - Sierra Nevada from Mariposa Co. north to Shasta Co.; Coastal Ranges from Marin Co. to Mendocino Co.).
H. concinnum is the only derivative of Sect. Roscyna that is directly related to H. ascyron subsp. gebleri. Unlike nearly all the other derivatives (in Sects 9b-d), it has relatively large imbricate sepals and an amber connective gland, characters which, along with its long narrow, usually conduplicate leaves and bushy habit, prompted its removal from its original position in Sect. Hypericum (Robson, 1977) to a separate section (Robson, 1981). Its isolated geographical location gives added support to this systematic decision; and together these facts suggest that it or its ancestor might even have become distinct from H. ascyron in Siberia, before crossing to North America. At any rate, it does not seem to be directly related to the eastern North American H. ascyron subsp. pyramidatum.