| Hypericum microsepalum | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Hypericaceae |
| Genus: | Hypericum |
| Species: | H. microsepalum |
| Binomial name | |
| Hypericum microsepalum | |
Hypericum microsepalum, commonly known asflatwoods St. John's wort, is an evergreen, arborescent plant native found along coastalecoclines in theFlorida panhandle.
Hypericum microsepalum are usually glabrous herbs or shrubs characterized by simple, opposite, entire leaves that are often punctate and typically sessile or subsessile. The leaves lackstipules. Inflorescences are primarily cymose, with perfect, regular flowers that are bracteate and either subsessile or borne on shortpedicels. Flowers have 2, 4, or 5 persistentsepals and 4 or 5petals, which are usually yellow or pink and oftenmarcescent.Stamens number from 5 to many and are either free or fused at the base into 3–5 clusters, with persistent filaments. Theovary is superior and composed of 2–5 carpels; styles andstigmas may be free or fused. The ovary may be 1-locular or partially to fully divided into 2–5locules, with axile or parietal placentation. The fruit is a capsule, typically ovoid anddehiscing longitudinally, with persistent styles. Seeds are numerous, shiny, and either cylindric or oblong with an areolate surface texture.[1]
Hypericum microsepalum is found from southernGeorgia and southeasternAlabama south topanhandle Florida. It grows in moist to wet pineflatwoods.[2] It can also be found in dry upland pine savannas where fire occurs every 2-3 years.[3]
It flowers from February through May.[2] The dehiscent, septicidal capsules contain numerous seeds, which are dispersed by gravity and occasionally by birds.[4] The plant has a lifespan of about 10 years with a persistentseed bank.[3]