Common name: Large-flowered St John's Wort
Hypericum kouytchense H.Lév. APNI* Synonyms: Hypericum x moserianum auct. non Andre APNI*
Description: Woody shrub to 1.5 m high, with a taproot; multi-stemmed from base; longer branches becoming decumbent.
Leaves lanceolate to ovate to elliptic, usually tapering to base, usually acute to obtuse apex, 20–60 mm long, 6–20 (-30) mm wide, glandular-dotted.
Inflorescence a terminal cyme, 1–12 flowers. Flowers to 5.5 cm diam., yellow; sepals 5, to 11 mm long, persistent in fruit; petals 5, 15–35 mm long, much longer than sepals, yellow; stamens numerous, usually basally united in 5 bundles; styles 5.
Capsule narrowly ovoid-pyramidal to ovoid, 5-valved, (10–) 15–20 mm long (to 30 mm including remains of styles), 7–10 mm wide, reddish when immature, woody and dry when mature. Seeds 2–3.2 mm long, narrowly cylindric, narrowly winged on one side, shallowly longitudinally ribbed and minutely foveolate to almost smooth.
Flowering: summer.
Distribution and occurrence: Widely cultivated; sparingly naturalised in New South Wales, recorded from Leura, Central Tablelands, and W of Mongarlowe, Southern Tablelands. Native of Guizhou Province, China. Grows in disturbed shady places in well-drained soils and on roadsides.
NSW subdivisions: *CT, *ST
Specimens from N.S.W. were previously identified as H. x moserianum Andre, leading to the misapplication of the name in the Flora of New South Wales (1990, 2000). See also N.K.B.Robson, Studies in the genus Hypericum L. (Guttiferae) 3. Sections 1. Campylosporus to 6a. Umbraculoides. Bull. Brit. Mus. (Nat. Hist.), Bot. 12(4): 163-325 (1985); J.R.Hosking, B.J.Conn & B.J.Lepschi, Plant species first recognised as naturalised for New South Wales over the period 2000–2001, Cunninghamia 8(2): 181 (2003); F.J.Richardson et al., Weeds of the South-east 2nd edn, 350 (2011). Sometimes placed in Clusiaceae.
Text by K.L. Wilson & J.R. Hosking (March 2007), following Flora of New Zealand Vol. 4; revised by P.G. Kodela (June 2016, April 2017)
Taxon concept: Australian Plant Census (accessed April 2017)
APNI* Provides a link to the Australian Plant Name Index (hosted by the Australian National Botanic Gardens) for comprehensive bibliographic data
***The AVH map option provides a detailed interactive Australia wide distribution map drawn from collections held by all major Australian herbaria participating in the Australian Virtual Herbarium project.
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