Hypericum japonicum Thunb. ex Murray
Family
Guttiferae
Synonyms
Hypericum pusillum Choisy, Hypericum mutilum Maxim. non L., Sarothra japonica (Thunb. ex Murray) Y. Kimura.
Vernacular Names
Papua New Guinea | Ngotokong (Mt Hagen, Western Highlands). |
Vietnam | N[ojc] s[owr]i c[or] ban, di[eef]n crow] ho[af]ng. |
Geographical Distributions
Hypericum japonicum is from Japan, South Korea and south-eastern China, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka to Australia, New Zealand and Hawaii. Hypericum japonicum occurs throughout Malesia, Indo-China and Thailand.
Description
Hypericum japonicum is an extremely variable annual herb, reaching up to 2-50 cm tall, and with erect to decumbent or prostrate stems rooting at the base.
The leaves are usually ovate or ovate-triangular to oblong or elliptical, measuring 2-18 mm x 1-10 mm, chartaceous, sometimes glaucous at the lower side, with 1-7 basal veins which are usually without reticulate venation, with pale laminar glands and sessile.
The 1-30-flowered inflorescence is lax. The flowers are 4-8 mm in diametre. The free sepals are 3-5-veined, measuring 2-5.5 mm x 0.5-2 mm, ,and often with prominent midrib and pale laminar glands while the petals are persistent, measuring 1.7-5 mm x 0.8-1.8 mm, pale yellow to orange and without glands. There are 5-30 stamens in 5 irregular groups. The ovary is 1-celled, with 2-3 parietal placentas, with divergent style and with broadening to headed stigmas.
The fruit is 2-6 mm long and cylindrical to spherical. The cylindrical seeds are minute, longitudinally ribbed with striae and not keeled.
Ecology / Cultivation
Hypericum japonicum is found in wet or marshy to dry localities, but always in exposed places, from sea level up to 3400 m altitude.
Line Drawing / Photograph
References
- Plant Resources of South-East Asia No. 12(1): Medicinal and poisonous plants 1.