Hypericum aethiopicum (Nomenclature)
Perennial herb sometimes woody at base, 0.1-0.45(-0.6) m tall, with stems arising from woody rootstock, erect or decumbent, unbranched, glabrous. Stem green to vinous red, sometimes ancipi- tous or 2-lined above, otherwise terete, eglandular or black-gland-dotted, internodes shorter than to exceeding leaves; cortex sometimes exfoliating in strips. Leaves sessile or rarely to 0.4 mm petiolate, 5-25 x 3-15 mm, broadly ovate or more rarely orbicular or elliptic-ovate to oblong, paler beneath, sometimes glaucous beneath or on both sides, plane, chartaceous to membranous, spreading or appressed; apex obtuse or rarely subacute to rounded, margin entire, often recurved, base cordate-amplexicaul to rounded; venation: 4 pairs of laterals curved-ascending from lower 0.4-0.7 of midrib, tertiary reticulation rather lax, often obscure; laminar glands pale or rarely 1-2 black, dense, unequal, sometimes prominent; intramarginal glands black, rather dense. Inflorescence 1-c. 25-flowered from up to 3 nodes, curved-corymbiform, lax or congested, occasionally with flowering branches from lower nodes; pedicels 2-4(-5) mm; bracteoles reduced, ovate to linear-lanceolate or narrowly elliptic, with dense marginal black glands sometimes prominent or on cilia. Flowers 15-25 mm in diam.; buds ellipsoid, acute. Sepals 4-8 x 1.5-2 mm, subequal, lanceolate or linear- lanceolate to oblong, acute to acuminate, entire to glandular-ciliate; veins 5, unbranched; laminar glands pale and/or black, striiform to punctiform; inframarginal or marginal or marginal glands black, sometimes on cilia, dense. Petals canary yellow, usually tinged red dorsally, (8-)10-13(-15) x 3-5 mm, 1-4 x sepals, elliptic to oblanceolate-spathulate, rounded to subtruncate with apiculus obsolete, subapical; laminar glands mostly black, elongate-punctiform with a few pale, striiform to punctiform; marginal to inframarginal glands black, rarely prominent, distally dense. Stamens c. 50-70, indistinctly 3(4)-fascicled, longest 7-10 mm, 0.7-0.8 x petals; anther gland amber. Ovary 3(4)-locular, 2-4 x 1.5-2 mm, ovoid; styles 3(4), 3-6.5 mm, (1.7-)2-3 x ovary, spreading-incurved. Capsule 6-7 x 3-4 mm, narrowly ovoid-pyramidal to ellipsoid, shorter than to slightly exceeding sepals, enclosed by petals twisting together. Seeds chestnut brown, c. 1 mm long; testa finely linear- foveolate.
Open grassland or more rarely bare or cultivated areas or seasonal swamps in high-rainfall areas; 135-1850 m.
South Africa (Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, Transvaal), Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe (eastern), Mozambique (central), Angola (Huila).
H. aethiopicum is most closely related to 3. H. conjungens, having a herbaceous habit with the woodiness confined to below ground level or sometimes the base of the stems. It can be divided into two subspecies, of which the northern (subsp. sonderi) is the less specialised in most characters except for the black-gland-dotted stems. The southern subsp. aethiopicum has eglandular stems, but the sepal margin is glandular-ciliate, not entire, and the habit is never as robust as it is in some Transvaal and Natal plants. There is also a northward reduction trend, the plants of subsp. sonderi from Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola being smaller with smaller, usually orbicular leaves. The correlation of gland-dotted stems and entire sepals occasionally breaks down, hence the reason for making these taxa subspecies.