Hypericum elongatum var. elongatum (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb, 0.15–0.5 m tall, usually glabrous, erect, not branching below inflorescence, with sterile shoots prostrate to ascending. Stems not glaucous, eglandular or rarely with a few amber dots towards base, not prominent; internodes 20–50 mm, usually exceeding leaves. Leaves sessile, spreading, ± glaucous, glabrous or rarely finely undulate-papillose above; lamina (main stem) 8–32 × 1–4.5(–6) mm, linear to linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, apex rounded to shortly apiculate, margin usually ± revolute, base narrowly to broadly cuneate, 1-veined or with up to 3 pairs of lateral branches, with laminar glands pale, small, numerous, marginal glands pale, dense; lamina (axillary and sterile shoots) smaller, narrower, apex mucronate to apiculate, more often papillose above, often fascicled. Inflorescence ∞-flowered, from 3–9 nodes, narrowly cylindric to rarely narrowly pyramidal, rather lax, 60–250 mm long, with lateral cymules 1-3(5)-flowered, without or with up to 3 flowering branches below; bracts and bracteoles narrowly triangular-ovate to lanceolate, without black glands. Flowers 15–30 mm in diam., with petals reflexed after flowering; buds broadly ellipsoid to globose. Sepals unequal, free or basally united, imbricate, (2)3–5 × 1–2.5 mm, broadly ovate or broadly oblong to elliptic or lanceolate or narrowly oblong, rounded to obtuse or acute, sometimes mucronate; veins 3–5, becoming prominent; margin entire, eglandular in all sepals of one flower or some with ± irregular sessile elliptic black glands; laminar glands pale, linear and punctiform. Petals deep to golden yellow, very rarely red-tinged or red-veined, 12–18 × 4–8 mm, c. 4 × sepals, obovate to oblanceolate, unguiculate, rounded, distally black-glandular-ciliate; laminar glands pale, punctiform to shortly striiform. Stamens 40–60, longest 8–10 mm; filaments very rarely red-tinged. Ovary 3–4 × 1.5–2 mm, narrowly pyramidal-ovoid to ovoid, not rostrate; styles 4–5(–5.5) mm, 0.25–0.35 × ovary. Capsule 8–15 × 4–7 mm, ovoid, acuminate to rostrate; vittae narrow. Seeds dark brown, c. 2 mm long.
Rocky or stony, igneous or serpentine slopes, steppe or rock crevices; (900–)1300–2610 m.
Turkey (Anatolia), Lebanon?, Krym ?, west and south Transcaucasia?, northern Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, northeast Kazakhstan, northwestern China (Xinjiang).
As defined here (at least one sepal in each flower with an entire margin), H. elongatum var. elongatum has a wide disjunct distribution, from western Turkey to the Altai region. The largest flowers and fruits seen were found in eastern Turkey (in Bitlis vilayet), which could therefore be the centre of diversity of the species, and observed morphological reduction trends eastward and westward from eastern Turkey would seem to confirm this conclusion.
As was explained above, H. elongatum has evolved along five main lines (Fig. 1) but has not produced clear morphological breaks in three of them. The H. lydium, H, scabrum and H. amblysepalum groups can be distinguished by the narrow bracts. But (i) the H. hyssopifolium group (Species 3–7), (ii) 8. H. apricum and (iii) the H. apiculatum group (Species 9–11) include intermediate forms that cannot be ignored. Previous classifications of the taxa in these lines have all proved unsatisfactory, so I have decided to treat the intermediate forms as varieties of H. elongatum, respectively (i) var. lythrifolium, (ii) var. racemosum and (iii) var. antasiaticum.