HYPERICUM TRIQUETRIFOLIUM

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

Common Names:- Crisped St.John's-wort

Homotypic Synonyms:- Hypericum crispum, Hypericum patentissimum.

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

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

Triquetrifolium (L) Having three-angled leaves.

General description:- Usually a glabrous perennial.

Stems:-

1) 13-55 cm, erect or decumbent, 2-lined, densely divaricate.

Leaves:-

1) Opposite, simple, linear-ovate, amplexicaul with a prominent, undulate margin,

with or without translucent points.

Flowers:-

1) From 8-5 mm in diam., yellow.

2) Sepals, oblong to ovate-oblong, obtuse or apiculate, entire or denticulate, without

black dots.

3) Petals, without black dots or rarely with one intramarginal dot.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule with longitudinal vittae or vesicles.

Key features:-

1) Leaves, undulate, amplexicaul.

2) Branches, of the inflorescence patent.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Gravelly coastal habitats, roadsides, harvested or fallow fields, olive

groves, wasteland. 0-600(-1200) m.

Distribution:- N Africa, Italy and Sicily eastwards. Widespread and common on

Crete.

Flowering time:- Late May to Sept.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton