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Hypericum xylosteifolium (Spach) N. Robson

Modern name

Hypericum xylosteifolium (Spach) N.Robson

Synonyms

Androsaemum xylosteifolium Spach; H. inodorum Willd., not Mill.

An elegant shrub 3 to 4 ft high, evergreen, with long, slender, usually unbranchcd stems compressed or slightly two-winged towards the top, and luxuriantly leafy (the leaf-pairs from 14 to 1 in. apart). Leaves oblong or ovate, 1 to 2 in. long, dull dark green, rounded at the apex, inodorous. Flowers small compared with the size of the plant, and wanting in beauty, often solitary at the end of the shoot, but on strong shoots produced in small terminal clusters, they are 34 or 1 in. across, with narrow, fragile petals, linear sepals, and three styles. Stamens longer than petals.

Native of north-east Turkey and south-west Georgia. In its graceful arching habit and strong vigorous growth this species is attractive, but it is one of the most disappointing in its flowers, which appear a few at a time from July to September. It has a creeping root stock, and eventually forms a large dense thicket; it is thus easily increased by division.



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

This is in cultivation at Wakehurst Place, Sussex, and other collections, from Lancaster 325, collected in Russia near Batumi in 1979.

Genus

Hypericum

Other species in the genus