Hypericum montbretii (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb 0.15–0.6 m tall, erect to decumbent, rarely rooting but sometimes branching from base (Hagemann, 1989: f. 54), with stems rather few, unbranched below inflorescence or rarely with with basal and sometimes 1(2) median innovations after flowering. Stems very narrowly 2–4-lined when young, soon terete, eglandular or sometimes with a few scattered reddish glands; internodes 25–70 mm, exceeding leaves. Leaves sessile, amplexicaul, spreading to erect; lamina 15–55 × 5–30 mm, ovate to oblong or (triangular-)lanceolate to linear-lanceolate, paler beneath, chartaceous; apex subacute or acute to rounded, margin entire or sometimes in uppermost or rarely nearly all leaves black-glandular-denticulate, base cordate to rarely rounded; venation: 3 pairs of main laterals from lower ¼ of midrib, branched, with dense, sometimes obscure tertiary reticulation; laminar glands all pale or rarely some black, usually dense; marginal glands black, irregular. Inflorescence 3–c. 70-flowered, from (1–)2–3(–4) nodes, sometimes with 1–2 flowering branches below, the whole corymbiform to broadly pyramidal in flower, with extended monochasial branches in fruit; bracts reduced-foliar, entire; bracteoles linear, black-glandular-fimbriate and -auriculate. Sepals 5, subequal to equal, basally united, 5–8 × 0.7–1.5 mm, linear-lanceolate to ± narrowly oblong, acute, spreading to reflexed, with dense to rather sparse long to short glandular cilia or sessile glands; veins 3–4(–5?), outer branched, not prominent; laminar glands pale, punctiform to shortly striiform with some submarginal to distal black or almost all black; marginal glands black. Petals 5, golden yellow (to orange-yellow – Gorschkova, 1949), not tinged red, 8–14 × 3.5–5 mm, obovate to broadly elliptic, sometimes subunguiculate, rounded; laminar glands pale, punctiform and often black distal and submarginal; marginal glands black, distal, sessile. Stamens 44– 55, longest 7–12 mm, 0.75–0.85 × petals. Ovary 2–3 × 1–1.5 mm, narrowly ellipsoid to cylindric; styles 4–5 mm, (1.5–)2 × ovary. Capsule (7–)8–10 × 4–5 mm, narrowly pyramidal-ovoid to pyramidal-cylindric; valves with numerous prominent round pale vesicles. Seeds stramineous, c. 1 mm; testa ribbed.
2n = 16 (Strid & Franzén, 1983), 14 (Reynaud, 1973; van Loon & van Setten, 1882).
Damp or shaded places among rocks, on siliceous or calcareous soil; 20–1750 m.
Central and southern Bulgaria, Macedonia, northeast Greece, Turkey (excluding central, south-east and most of north-east), Syria, Lebanon and Russia (Krasnodar).
Hypericum montbretii is the oriental counterpart of the Mediterranean 1. H. perfoliatum, which is the only species with which it can reasonably be confused. Their areas overlap in Greece and western Turkey, but they can always be differentiated by the sepals and the capsule. In H. perfoliatum the sepals are broad and rounded with paired black glandular streaks or lines of dots and remain erect, and the capsule is ovoid with lateral vittae; whereas in H. montbretii the sepals are narrow and acute with pale and/or black gland dots and become spreading or reflexed, and the capsule is narrowly ovoid to ellipsoid with round vesicles.
Hypericum montbretii is not very variable, and only one taxon should be considered as possibly distinct: H. maleevii (H. strictum Maleev non Kunth) from the western Russian Caucasus. The nearest location to this area for H. montbretii sensu stricto is in extreme north-eastern Turkey (Çoruh vilayet), which suggests that the Russian plant is a relict of a wider distribution. Its narrow leaves can be matched elsewhere in H. montbretii, as can their strictness. Since, according to Gorschkova (1949), the type appears to be lost, it would seem to be unwise at present to recognise H. maleevii as distinct, even as a subspecies or variety.
Boissier (1867) identified Hypericum montanum var. athoum Griseb as H. montbretii and made the combination H. montbretii var. athoum; Grisebach described the ovary as longitudinally vittate, but see Boissier (1867).
Hypericum strictum Maleev has been maintained as a species by Russian workers since it was described, having been differentiated from various species; but, from the original description, it seems to differ from normal H. montbretii only in the appressed leaves, a character that is not unknown in that species. It is geographically distinct from the rest of the species, but scarcely deserves taxonomic recognition.