Hypericum montanum L.
mountain St John's wort
Stout, erect perennial herb, to 1 m tall; rhizomes 0; stems woody at base, terete, not branched, glabrous. Lvs sessile, 2-5 × 0.8-2 cm, ovate to elliptic, puberulent below, glabrous above, with numerous black intramarginal glands; base ± cordate and ± amplexicaul; apex obtuse. Infl. terminal, a panicle of subcorymbose cymes, dense, glabrous; bracts and bracteoles lanceolate, usually < calyx, with prominent black glandular teeth. Sepals equal, 5-6 mm long, lanceolate-oblong, not accrescent; margin with numerous prominent black glandular teeth; apex sharply acute or shortly acuminate. Corolla 1.5-2.3 cm diam., pale yellow; petals ± obovate, eglandular or nearly so, much > sepals. Stamens in 3 bundles, < petals. Styles 3, recurving, < ovary. Capsule to 8 mm long, ovoid, dry. Seeds 0.7-1.0 mm long, cylindric, reticulate.
S.: confined to a small area on the north side of the Wairau R. (Marlborough).
Europe, W. Asia, N. Africa 1904
Scrub and bracken-covered hillsides.
FL Dec-Feb.
The initial spread of this sp. caused it to be quickly designated a noxious weed, but it has not become a problem. The rather similar H. perforatum and H. pulchrum grow in the same area of Marlborough, but it is distinguished from them by the hairy lf undersurfaces and prominently glandular-toothed sepals.
