Hypericum elodeoides (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb 0.15-0.5(-0.73) m tall, erect (sometimes from creeping and rooting base), with stems caespitose, unbranched or rarely branched above, with branches virgate Stems terete, eglandular; internodes 5-35 mm, usually shorter than leaves. Leaves sessile: lamina 10-50 ´ (2-)4-12(-17) mm, lanceolate or more rarely ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or oblong-elliptic to linear, paler or glaucous beneath, plane or margins recurved, chartaceous; apex acute to subacute or more rarely obtuse to rounded, margin entire or (upper) glandular-ciliate towards base, base cordate-amplexicaul to rounded, the upper usually with glandular-ciliate auricles; venation: (2)3 pairs of main laterals from lower third to fifth of midrib, usually prominent beneath, with tertiary reticulation lax; laminar glands pale, dense, large, punctiform or shortly striiform; intramarginal glands black, sparse. Inflorescence (1-)5-c.30-flowered, from 1(2-4) nodes, corymbiform to cylindric, very rarely with flowering branches from 1-2 nodes below; pedicels 3-12 mm; bracts and bracteoles ovate-lanceolate to oblong-lanceolate or linear, with margin and auricles black-glandular-ciliate or very rarely subentire to entire without auricles. Flowers 10-20 mm in diam., stellate; buds ellipsoid. Sepals 5, 5-9 ´ 1-1.5(-3) mm, equal, erect in bud and fruit, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, acute, glandular-ciliate; veins 5, unbranched, prominent; laminar glands pale or black, linear to striiform; marginal glands on cilia and a few sessile, black. Petals 5, golden yellow, not tinged red in bud, 7-15 ´ 3-4 mm, oblanceolate to obovate-oblong, margin entire, laminar glands black and sometimes a few pale, linear to punctiform, dense to sparse, marginal glands black, distal, few, sessile. Stamens c. 60, '3'-fascicled, longest 8-11 mm, c. 0.75 ´ petals; anther gland black. Ovary 3-locular, 2-4 ´ 1.3-1.7 mm, narrowly ovoid; styles 3, (3-)4-8 mm, c. 2 ´ ovary, divaricate, curved-ascending or straight; stigmas narrowly capitate. Capsule 5-8 ´ 4-5.5 mm, ovoid, about equalling sepals; valves longitudinally vittate. Seeds yellow-brown, 0.5-0.6 mm, not carinate; testa densely scalariform-reticulate.
2n = 16 (n = 8; Sugiura, 1944), 32 (n = 16, Sandhu & Mann, 1989).
Forests, forest margins and clearings, thickets, damp meadows and rice fields, grassy slopes and tracksides; (750?-)1050-3600 m.
S. China (Guangxi, Sichuan, Yunnan, Xizang; also recorded from Guizhou, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Fujian), Myanmar (Mt. Victoria), India (Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, W. Benghal, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir), Bhutan, Nepal.
H. elodeoides is closely related to H. hengshanense, but has shorter leaves and styles and is in general smaller. The main reduction trend in this species, in which the acute leaves gradually become linear, runs mainly E - W along the Himalayan range to Kashmir, omitting north Burma and most of Arunachal Pradesh. In a separate, southward trend through Manipur into western Burma, however, the leaves remain relatively broad (though smaller) and become all entire and rounded at the apex, and the sepals, bracts and bracteoles also become subentire or entire. These plants have been given subspecific rank as subsp. wardii.