Hypericum bifurcatum (Nomenclature)
Shrub 0.3-1.5 m tall, with branches strict, pseudo-dichotomous and lateral, sometimes also basal and rooting. Stems 2-4-lined when young, eventually terete, eglandular. Leaves sessile; lamina 7-13(-17) x 1.5-6 mm, narrowly ovate to narrowly elliptic-oblong, concolorous, not glaucous, plane, ascending or appressed; apex rounded, base cuneate to rounded; venation: 3-4 pairs of main lateral veins, curved-parallel, scarcely branched except near apex and margin, without noticeable tertiary reticulation; laminar glands pale, linear to striiform, sometimes flanked by rows of dots, becom- ing interrupted towards apex and margin; intramarginal glands dense, pale. Inflorescence 1 -flowered, with paired strong flowering branches in uppermost axils and often weaker ones in 1-2 axils immediately below, repeated pseudo-dichotomies giving an effect of bifurcations; pedicels 8-15 mm in fruit. Flowers 15-25 mm in diam., stellate; buds narrowly ovoid, rounded. Sepals 4-6(-7) x 1.5-2 mm, imbricate, equal, ovate-lanceolate, subacute, entire; veins 7, unbranched; laminar glands pale, all or mostly linear; inframarginal glands pale or reddish. Petals bright yellow, orange- to red-tinged dorsally, 9-14 x 3-5(-6) mm, 2.2-2.3 x sepals, obovate to oblanceolate, rounded, apiculus absent or almost so; laminar glands pale, linear, sometimes interrupted distally; marginal glands absent. Stamens not or obscurely 3-fascicled, c. 25-30, longest (5-)6-8 mm, c. 0.75 x petals; anther gland black. Ovary 2-3 x 1.5-2 mm, ovoid, acute; styles 3, 2-4 mm long, equalling or slightly longer than ovary, divergent; stigmas narrowly capitate; placentae 3, parietal except for axile extreme base. Capsule 6-9(-10) x 3.5-4.5 mm, c. 1 .3 x sepals, broadly to narrowly ovoid or ovoid-pyramidal, with valves longitudinally vittate. Seeds yellow-brown, c. 0.7 mm long, slightly carinate; testa densely linear-foveolate.
Wet to dry alpine grassland; 1 550-3000 m.
New Guinea (Terr. New Guinea - E. Highlands and Morobe Districts).
The repeated pseudo-dichotomous inflorescence branching distinguishes H. bifurcatum from other members of sect. Humifusoideum except sometimes H. papuanum, which has a different pattern of leaf glands and often 4-5 styles. H. macgregorii rarely has one pseudodichotomy, but the leaves are smaller, the anther gland amber and the placentation axile. A collection of this species from a relatively low altitude (1500 m) in the Owen Stanley Range (Central Papua) is intermediate in this respect.