HYPERICUM HIRCINUM subsp. ALBIMONTANUM

Family and Genus:- See- GUTTIFERAE/Sect. ANDROSAEMUM

Common Names:- Stinking tutsan

Homotypic Synonyms:- Hypericum hircinum var. albimontanum.

Meaning:- Hypericum (Gr) Above-pictures. A name used by the Greek physician

and botanist Dioscorides for its use over shrines to repel evil spirits.

Hircinum (L) Of goats, smelling of a male goat.

Albimontanum (L) From the White Mountains.

General description:- Hairless shrub.

Stems:-

1) 30-100(-150) cm, erect, 2-lined or 4-angled.

2) Twigs, 4-lined, glabrous.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, subsessile, elliptic-ovate, 15-35 x 8-20 mm, glabrous, withvsmall

translucent glandular dots, green above, greyish-green and finely reticulate-

veined beneath.

Flowers:-

1) Large, 25-30 mm, borne in lax clusters at branch ends.

2) Sepals, (2-)3-6(-7) mm, somewhat unequal, lanceolate to ovate-lanceolate,

deciduous.

3) Petals, 11-18 mm, oblanceolate to narrowly obovate, longer than the sepals.

4) Stamens, exceeding petals.

5) Styles, 3-5 times as long as ovary.

6) Stamens, longer than the petals.

7) Styles, 5.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, red or green, 8-13mm long, ellipsoid to subcylindrical, subcoriaceous.

2) Seeds unilaterally winged.

Key features:-

1) Petals, longer than the sepals.

2) Ripe fruit red or green, scarcely succulent.

3) Sepals, shrivelling and falling before the fruit ripens.

4) Foliage, often goat-scented.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Damp spots in evergreen scrub in gorges and by streams. 50-1100 m.

Distribution:- Limited distribution in the Aegean area. Widespread S Europe and

SW Asia. A somewhat limited distribution on Crete, mainly around the main

massifs.

Flowering time:- Apr to mid-June.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton