Hypericum interior Small

Locations ofHypericum interior Small in Virginia

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Detail

Family
Hypericaceae
Botanical Name
Hypericum interior Small
Common Name
Interior Bushy St. John's-wort
Synonym(s)
Hypericum densiflorum Pursh var. interior (Small) Sorrie & Weakley
Flora of Virginia Name/Status
Hypericum interior Small
Comments
Identified by Bruce Sorrie from specimens (Fleming 15733 at VPI) collected in Sept. 2012 at Barnes Chapel fen in Washington County. Specimens previously collected at this site had been variously called Hypericum densiflorum and H. prolificum. This taxon is closely related to H. densiflorum but differs in its narrower, linear-elliptic leaves and its affiliation with calcareous wetlands (vs. highly oligotrophic wetlands with H. densiflorum). The distinction is thus ecologically strong but morphologically fairly minor. Although Small treated this as a species decades ago, it was generally subsumed in H. densiflorum until Weakley et al. (2011) brought it out of obscurity as a variety. Now, Flora of the Southeast U.S. (Weakley et al. 2023) states that it is "better treated as a species." Hypericum interior is primarily distributed in the southern Ridge and Valley, it ranges from c. AL and nw. GA to e. and c. TN and sw. VA.
Habitat
Known from a single, shrubby, calcareous fen in Washington County. Rare, mountains (s. Ridge and Valley region). Associated with Thuja occidentalis, Salix sericea, and Rhamnus alnifolia. Dominant herbaceous species at the site include Carex interior, Rhynchospora capillacea, and Parnassia grandifolia.
Native Status
Native

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