| Hypericum formosissimum | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Hypericaceae |
| Genus: | Hypericum |
| Section: | Hypericumsect. Adenosepalum |
| Species: | H. formosissimum |
| Binomial name | |
| Hypericum formosissimum | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
| |
Hypericum formosissimum is aspecies offlowering plant in the St John's wort familyHypericaceae. Found in the cracks oflimestone rocks, it is a smallperennial herb that grows in a pillow-like shape, has yellow flowerpetals, and blooms in the late summer. The plant israre and has a limitedhabitat in Turkey, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. It is threatened by rock collapses, urbanization, and road construction; it is not protected by conservation efforts.
The species wasfirst described asHypericum formosum by Soviet-Armenian botanistArmen Takhtajan and was later excluded from agenus-widemonograph ofHypericum by English botanistNorman Robson. When the species was reviewed by Robson, he was uncertain whether it belonged insectionOriganifolia or sectionAdenosepalum. In a 2013 online publication, Robson placed the species in aHypericum huber-morathii group within sectionAdenosepalum alongside several related species.
Hypericum formosissimum is aperennial herb that grows 3–10 centimetres (1.2–3.9 inches) tall. It is aglabrous plant, meaning it lacks small hairs on its surfaces, and it grows in apulviniform, or pillow-like, shape. The plant has many slender and brittle stems that grow in straggling directions. The leaves grow fromnodes spaced 0.3–1.4 cm (0.12–0.55 in) from each other along the stems. The leaves are attached by a shortpetiole, or leaf stalk, that is 0.2–0.3 cm (0.079–0.118 in) long, and thelaminae, or leaf blades, are 0.3–1.0 cm (0.12–0.39 in) long and 0.3–0.8 cm (0.12–0.31 in) wide with an almost leathery (subcoriaceous) texture. Each leaf has anapex, or tip, that isobtuse (rounded) and a base in the shape of a wide wedge (broadlycuneate) that sometimes can betruncate, meaning that the base can be completely squared off. The two obscure pairs of lateralveins branch out from the part of themidrib closest to the base of the leaf. There are blackglands spaced out across the surface of the leaf.[3]
Eachinflorescence (flower cluster) has between one and five flowers from a single terminal node at the end of a stem. Thebuds areglobose, or roughly spherical. The flowers are 1.0–1.2 cm (0.39–0.47 in) wide and have bracteoles (smallbract-like structures) with black glands below them. Thesepals are 0.2–0.25 cm (0.079–0.098 in) long and 0.1–0.15 cm (0.039–0.059 in) wide, with a single large vein and pale amber and black glands.[3] Species inHypericum have between 4 and 6petals.[4] The petals ofH. formosissimum are pale yellow, 0.6–0.8 cm (0.24–0.31 in) long and 0.2–0.5 cm (0.079–0.197 in) wide, with a rounded tip and pale glands. The flowers have 18–20stamens, the longest of which is around 0.5–0.6 cm (0.20–0.24 in) long. Thestyles are two to three times as long as than theovary, and theseed capsule is around 0.3 cm (0.12 in) long with several partialvittae. The seeds are brown and measure 0.1–0.3 cm (0.039–0.118 in), and have small linear pits on their surface.[3]Hypericum formosissimum flowers in June and July and fruits from July to August.[5][6]
Unlike most species in the genusHypericum,H. formosissimum does not contain bothhypericin andpseudohypericin in its chemical profile. It contains only pseudohypericin, which is present at similar levels to other related species likeH. annulatum andH. montanum.[7] The species does possess slight traces ofmangiferin and moderate traces ofisomangiferin.[8]
One origin of thegenus nameHypericum is that it is derived from theGreek wordshyper (above) andeikon (picture), in reference to the tradition of hanging the plant over religiousicons in the home.[9] Thespecific epithetformosissimum derives from thesuperlative form offormosus, which means "beautiful" or "finely formed".[10] In Turkish, the species is known asbitlis kantaronu, sharing a name with theAnatolian city and province ofBitlis.[11][12]
The species wasfirst described in 1937 asHypericum formosum by Soviet-Armenian botanistArmen Takhtajan in the botanical series of the Soviet academic journalIzvestiia Akademii Nauk SSSR.[2] This name wasillegitimate, because German botanistCarl Sigismund Kunth had alreadyvalidly published the accepted speciesHypericum formosum in 1822.[13] In 1940, Takhtajan corrected his illegitimate name in a publication inZametki po Sistematike i Geografii Rastenii [ast], creating the new combinationHypericum formosissimum.[1]
Hypericum formosissimum was originally excluded from a comprehensivemonograph of the genusHypericum by English botanistNorman Robson, along with the related speciesH. huber-morathii andH. minutum.[14][15] The species was later addressed by Robson in 1993 and 1996. In 1993, he acknowledged that the species should be treated as part ofsect.Adenosepalum. However, he also stated that removingH. formosissimum, the aforementioned related species, and several other species related toHypericum elodeoides would lead to a "purified" sect.Adenosepalum forming a "natural group" of species.[16] In 1996, he then advocated for their inclusion insect.Origanifolia based on the structure of theirvittae which would relate them most closely toHypericum aviculariifolium in the latter section.[17]
In an online edition of the monograph published in 2013, the species was included by Norman Robson and his colleague David Pattinson within a "Huber-morathii group" inside sect.Adenosepalum. There, it was proposed thatH. formosissimum was an "extreme development" of sect.Adenosepalum because of its pillow-shaped growth pattern and almost threadlike stems. In the online classification, the placement ofHypericum formosissimum was summarized as follows:[3]
In Turkey,Hypericum formosissimum is only found in theYukarı Murat-Van [tr] region of easternAnatolia.[12] It also grows in Armenia and theNakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan.[3] Across its distribution, the species can be found in the cracks betweenlimestone rocks at elevations of 1,500–1,900 metres (4,900–6,200 feet).[3][5]
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Hypericum formosissimum is a part of theAtropatenian Subprovince in theIrano-Turanianfloristic region, an area characterized by high numbers of endemic species.[18] The species has been noted to be a part of aplant community centered around the flowering plantEremurus spectabilis. It can be found alongside species likeMelilotus officinalis (yellow melilot),Lotus corniculatus (bird's-foot trefoil), andCampanula glomerata (clustered bellflower).[Note 1][19]
When the plant iscultivated, it is grown in sunny and dry areas with protection from winter dampness. It can be grown in poor, well-drained soil.Propagation is undertaken by seeding in springtime; the seed is covered with a small amount of soil and left togerminate for 1–3 months. Division is done in the spring whilecuttings are taken in the late summer.[5]
Hypericum formosissimum was listed in theRed Data Book of Armenia [hy] as a Rare species, but it was not included in theCITES treaty or theBerne Convention. It has a limited distribution of less than 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) with only three localities in Armenia, one in Azerbaijan, and one in Turkey. It is threatened by natural factors like collapsing rocks, as well as human factors like urbanization and road construction. As of 2016, no conservation action had been taken, but an ecological advocacy group has called for the protection of a locality nearAreni, Armenia, as anature monument.[6]