Hypericum elodeoides - Himalayan St Johns Wort

Himalayan St Johns Wort is an erect perennial herb with two distinct forms. One form has narrow leaves and narrow petals, the other has very broad leaves and petals. Stems are 15-73 cm long, sometimes from a shortly creeping rooting base, terete, smooth, usually unbranched below inflorescence. Leaves are stalkless, 1-3.6 cm long, 2-17 mm broad, ovate-lanceshaped, lanceshaped or oblong-lanceolate, tip pointed to blunt or rounded, base heart-shaped-stem-clasping to rounded, lower pairs entire, uppermost pairs with glandular-ciliate ears and base, with intra-marginal black glands. Flowers are borne in clusters at the top op of the stem. Bracts have glandular-ciliate margin. Flowers are 1-1.7 cm across, yellow. Sepals are 5-9 mm long, linear to narrowly inverted-lanceshaped, pointed, with prominent long-stalked glands on the margins. Petals are broadly inverted-lanceshaped to obovate, 7-12 mm long, with marginal black dots and sometimes laminar black dots to lines. Stamens are long, in fascicles. Ovary is 3-locular, 2-2.5 mm long, styles 1.5-2.5 longer than the ovary, free, divergent, straight. Capsule are 5-8 mm long, ovoid, longitudinally vittate. Himalayan St Johns Wort is found in the Himalayas, from Kashmir to SW China and Burma, at altitudes of 1500-3500 m. Flowering: July-September.