Hypericum ×inodorum Mill.
Glabrous, dense, evergreen shrub, to 2 m tall, lacking black glands. Rhizomes 0. Shoots 2-lined. Lvs sessile, 3.5-7.5 × 1.5-4 cm, ovate or ovate-oblong; glands minute and pellucid; base rounded on vegetative shoots, cordate and somewhat amplexicaul on flowering shoots; apex obtuse to rounded. Cymes terminal, up to 12-flowered. Sepals ± unequal, 4-9 mm long, ovate-oblong, with minute pellucid glands, entire, enlarged at fruiting; apex ± acute. Corolla 2.5-3.7 cm diam.; petals ovate, medium yellow, much > sepals. Stamens in 5 bundles, variable in length with longest > petals. Styles 3, 1-1.5 cm long, much > ovary. Capsule 7-13 mm long, ovoid or ellipsoid-ovoid, ± fleshy, remaining shining red. Seeds c. 1 mm long, probably ± cylindric but mature seed not seen.
N.: an escape from cultivation at Kaingaroa (near Kaitaia), Waikare Inlet (Bay of Islands), and Titirangi (near Auckland).
Origin uncertain 1972
Waste places.
FL Nov-Feb.
A fl. and fr. of H. × inodorum are illustrated in Figs 54 and 55. It is occasionally cultivated south of the area where it has been recorded wild. Its origin is uncertain; hybrids occur naturally in the wild and in gardens in Europe (Robson, op. cit.). It is often said to come from Madeira although neither of the parents, H. androsaemum and H. hircinum L., occur there. At least 1 wild N.Z. collection apparently represents cv. 'Elstead' which has larger, brighter red and more fleshy frs than more typical H. × inodorum. H. × inodorum has been previously known in N.Z. as H. elatum.
