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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Hypericum L.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:783 (1753)
Name Status
Current

Scientific Description

Family Clusiaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs, or herbs, or trees (rarely); with coloured juice, or non-laticiferous and without coloured juice; bearing essential oils, or without essential oils; resinous, or not resinous. Young stems of herbs tetragonal. Mesophytic. Leaves opposite; ‘herbaceous’; sessile; gland-dotted; without marked odour; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades entire; without prominent lateral veins; cross-venulate. Leaves without stipules. Leaf blade margins entire. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; when solitary, axillary. Inflorescence few-flowered to many-flowered. Flowers in cymes. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences terminal. Flowers bracteolate, or ebracteolate; small to medium-sized; regular; cyclic, or partially acyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent, or present; of separate members. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous; free; yellow to orange. Calyx 5; 1 -whorled; polysepalous; imbricate; regular; persistent. Corolla 5; 1 -whorled; polypetalous; imbricate, or contorted; regular; yellow to orange. Petals clawed, or sessile. Androecium 20–50 (i.e. ‘many’). Androecial sequence determinable, or not determinable. Androecial members maturing centrifugally; free of the perianth; free of one another. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens, or including staminodes. Stamens 20–50 (‘many’); polystemonous. Filaments filiform. Anthers globular, with a minute gland at the apex; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse, or extrorse; bisporangiate. Pollen shed in aggregates, or shed as single grains. Gynoecium 1–3 carpelled. The pistil 1–3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; superior. Ovary unilocular, or plurilocular; 1–3 locular (as many locules as G, or unilocular by intruded placentae failing to reach the middle). Gynoecium stylate. Styles 3 (in H. gramineum); free; attenuate from the ovary; apical. Stigmas 3; wet type; non-papillate; Group IV type. Placentation when ovary unilocular, parietal (on intruded placentae). Ovules 10–50 per locule (i.e., numerous); horizontal, or ascending; arillate, or non-arillate; anatropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules septicidal. Fruit numerous-seeded. Seeds cylindric; non-endospermic; winged, or wingless. Embryo rudimentary at the time of seed release to well differentiated. Cotyledons 2 (sometimes reduced ?). Embryo straight to curved.

Geography, cytology, number of species. Native of Australia. Not endemic to Australia. Australian states and territories: Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, and Tasmania. Northern Botanical Province, Eremaean Botanical Province, and South-West Botanical Province.