HYPERICUM AEGYPTICUM subsp WEBBII
Family and Genus:- See- GUTTIFERAE/Sect. TRIADENIA
Common Names:- Shrubby St John's wort
Homotypic Synonyms:- Hypericum webbii, Triadenia maritima var. webbii,
Triadenia webbii.
Meaning:- Hypericum (Gr) Above-pictures. A name used by the Greek physician
and botanist Dioscorides for its use over shrines to repel evil spirits.
Aegypticum (Gr) From Egypt, Egyptian.
Webbii (L) Either for Philip Barker Webb (1715-87) or Captain W.S.
Webb.
General description:- Much-branched, bushy shrublet forming loose cushions up
to 1 m in diam., without black glands.
Leaves:-
1) Elliptic-oblong, often imbricate, 4-10 mm, coriaceous, glaucous and glabrous.
Flowers:-
1) Usually solitary, subsessile.
2) Sepals, erect, oblong.
3) Petals, yellow, 8-14 mm, persistent.
4) Stamens, persistent.
Fruit:-
1) Ovary, with numerous ovules in each loculus.
Key features:-
1) Leaves elliptic-oblong.
2) Flowers, usually solitary and subsessile.
3) Ovary, with numerous ovules in each loculus.
Habitat:- Limestone and conglomerate cliffs and rocky slopes facing the sea. 0-200
m.
Distribution:- W. Peloponnisos and Ionian Islands. Also Sardinia, Malta and
Lamppedusa. Rare in Crete, but long known to occur there, having been first
collected on the Akrotiri peninsula by Sieber
Flowering time:- Mar-May, and sporadically at other times.
Photos by:- Manolis Petakakis
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
