Hypericum minutum
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| Hypericum minutum | |
|---|---|
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| Holotype specimen of Hypericum minutum | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Malpighiales |
| Family: | Hypericaceae |
| Genus: | Hypericum |
| Section: | Hypericum sect. Adenosepalum |
| Species: | H. minutum |
| Binomial name | |
| Hypericum minutum P.H.Davis & Poulter | |
Hypericum minutum is a species of flowering plant in the St John's wort family Hypericaceae. It is a small perennial herb that grows in tufts. It has slender and brittle stems, flowers in clusters of one to three, yellow petals with black and amber glands, few stamens, and a seed capsule with narrow grooves. H. minutum is closely related to H. huber-morathii and H. sechmenii and resembles a smaller form of the latter plant. The plant is endemic to Turkey, and is found among limestone rocks in a limited region of southwestern Anatolia. Originally excluded from a comprehensive monograph of Hypericum, the species' placement within the genus is unclear. It has been placed in both section Adenosepalum and section Origanifolium.
The genus name Hypericum is possibly derived from the Greek words hyper (above) and eikon (picture), in reference to the tradition of hanging the plant over religious icons in the home.[2] The species name minutum comes from the Latin word minutus, and means small or minute.[3] In Turkish, the plant is called minik kantaronu,[4] which translates to little St. John's wort.[5][6]
Description
Hypericum minutum is a small perennial herb that grows 1.5–2.5 centimeters (0.59–0.98 in) tall. It is entirely hairless, and it grows in tufts of stems that ascend from a central taproot. Its stems are slender with a two-lined cross section on the higher parts of the plant, and a more circular one on the lower parts. They are brittle and lack glands. The leaf stalk is 0.05 cm long, and the leaf blade is 0.45 cm long by 0.4 cm wide. The leaf ranges in shape from a wide oval to almost circular, with a blunt or rounded tip and a blunt or somewhat heart-shaped base. There are one or two pairs of lateral veins that ascend near the base of the leaf. There are very few pale and black glands on the surface of the leaf, but on its edges there are many black glands.[7]
The flowers are usually clustered in groups of one to three. The bracts are small and have tooth-like edges, and the flowers are around 0.7–0.8 cm wide. The sepals are of varying sizes and are not fused together. The petals are yellow without any tint of red, and are 0.4–0.7 cm long and 0.1–0.2 cm wide. They have varying amounts of amber glands on their surface as well as black glands on their edges. There are a few stamens, the longest of which are around 0.4–0.5 cm. The styles are around 0.1 cm long and the seed capsule is around 0.3 cm long and 0.2 cm wide. It is an ellipsoid shape and the valves have narrow vittae, or oil tubes.[7] The pollen has three pores, each within one of three colpi, or grooves, on the grain. The surface of the grain is rough, and it is the shape of a prolate sphere.[8]
Hypericum minutum can be told apart from its closest relatives, H. sechmenii and H. huber-morathii, by several characteristics. These include its shorter stems, fewer flowers per cluster, bracts with tooth-like edges, many amber glands on the petals, and later flowering time in July.[9] In general, it resembles a smaller form of H. sechmenii.[7]
