Hypericum lancasteri N. Robson

Shrubs, 0.3-1 m tall, branches suberect to spreading, young shoots purplish red. Stems 4-lined but scarcely ancipitous when young, soon 2-lined, eventually terete; internodes 1-4 cm, shorter than to exceeding leaves. Leaves with petiole 1-1.5 mm; blade oblong-lanceolate to lanceolate or rarely ovate, 3-6 × 0.9-3 cm, thickly papery, abaxially paler or sometimes ± densely glaucous; laminar glands dots and short streaks; abaxial glands usually sparse or absent, sometimes dense; main lateral veins 3- or 4-paired, without visible tertiary reticulation; base cuneate to rounded, apex acute to rounded or retuse. Inflorescence 1-11-flowered, from apical node or (in cultivation) sometimes 2 or 3 nodes, lax; branches relatively stout; bracts deciduous, leaflike, gradually reduced in successive nodes. Pedicels (0.8-)1.3-2.5(-3) cm. Flowers 3-5.5(-6.5) cm in diam., nearly stellate to shallowly cupped; buds narrowly to broadly ovoid, apex acute to apiculate. Sepals widely spreading to recurved, equal to subequal, narrowly oblong or narrowly oblong-lanceolate or rarely broader and leaflike, 8-11 × 3-4 mm; laminar glands lines or streaks, margin reddish and entire, apex acute to acuminate. Petals golden yellow, oblong-obovate, 1.7-2.8 × 1.3-1.8 cm, 2.5-3 × as long as sepals; margin entire, eglandular; apiculus acute to obtuse. Stamen fascicles each with 45-50 stamens, longest 1.1-1.6 cm, 0.6(-0.75) × as long as petals. Ovary ovoid, 5-6.5 × 3.5-5 mm; styles 5-7(-9) mm, ca. as long as to 1.25 × as long as ovary, free, outcurving distally, otherwise straight. Capsule ovoid, 1.3-1.7 cm × 8-10 mm. Seeds dark red-brown, 1-1.3 mm, incompletely or not carinate; testa laxly reticulate. Fl. May-Jul, fr. Aug-Oct.

C Guizhou (Anshun), SW Sichuan (Huidong, Jinyang), NC and W Yunnan (Dali, Dongchuan, Kunming, Tengchong).

● Dry banks, grassy slopes; 1700-2600 m.