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Nomenclature
Hypericum tortuosum Balf.f.
Nomenclature
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Genus: HypericumSection: sect. Triadenoides
- syntype: E - I. B. Balfour, Cockburn, Scott - 607
- lectotype: E - Schweinfurth - 757
DIAGNOSTIC DESCRIPTION
Shrub or shrublet to c. 0.5 m tall, much branched, round-topped or trailing, with branches divergent-ascending, flexuous; wholly glabrous or with young stems and leaves beneath densely and minutely papillose; dark glands absent. Stems persistently 4-lined; cortex reddish; bark finely longitudinally ribbed. Leaves opposite, free, all sessile or lower petiolate, with petiole up to 4 mm long; lamina 8-17(-23) x 4-11 (-15) mm, obovate or oblanceolate to elliptic-oblong or suborbicular, paler beneath, glaucous on both sides (densely so beneath), coriaceous; apex obtuse (or subacute?) to rounded, margin revolute, base cuneate; venation: 4-5(-8) pairs of laterals, closed, without cross-veins but sometimes with rather obscure tertiary reticulation; laminar glands dense, obscure, not prominent or slightly so beneath or on both sides; intramarginal glands rather dense, obscure. Inflorescence 1-c. 35-flowered, terminal, subumbellate, occasionally with single axillary flower from lower node; uppermost leaf pair modified as bracts, oblong, amplexicaul; bracteoles minute, basal; pedicels 4-8 mm long, slender. Flowers c. 10 mm in diam.; buds ellipsoid, obtuse. Sepals 4-6 x (1-)1.5-2.5 mm, free, imbricate, unequal, elliptic to oblong-oblanceolate or oblong, acute to rounded, thinly chartaceous, margin entire; veins 7(-l1), prominent, pinnately branched; laminar glands absent. Petals bright yellow, not tinged red, 6-7 x 2-3 mm, 1.5-2 x sepals, elliptic to oblanceolate, rounded. Stamens c. 25, longest 4-7(-7) mm, c. 0.7 x petals. Ovary 1.5-2 x 1-1.7 mm, ovoid-ellipsoid, acute; styles 3-5 mm long, 2-2.5 x ovary, curved-ascending. Capsule c. 5 x 2.5 mm, ellipsoid, acute, subcoriaceous, with valves glandular-verrucose (vesiculate), about equalling sepals. Seeds dark brown, c. 1.2 mm long; testa rugulose.