Common name: Rose-of-Sharon, Aaron's Beard, Great St-John's Wort, Jerusalem Star
Hypericum calycinum L. APNI* Description: Prostrate to ascending, rhizomatous, perennial shrub to 0.8 (-1) m high; stems 4-ridged.
Leaves sessile or subsessile with petiole to 2 mm long; lamina ovate to elliptic or oblong, (3-) 4–10 cm long, 1–4 cm wide, discolorous, apex obtuse or subacute.
Flowers terminal, usually solitary, 5–8 cm in diam.; sepals 5, unequal, pellucid glands present, black glandular dots absent; petals 5, obovate, usually asymmetric, yellow, without glands; stamens numerous, shortly united at base into 5 bundles; styles 5.
Capsule ± ovoid, to 20 mm long, deflexing at maturity, many-seeded.
Flowering: December to March.
Distribution and occurrence: native to SE Europe and SW Asia. Widely cultivated. Naturalised in N.S.W. at Wentworth Falls and possibly recorded near Oberon. Recorded from a disturbed grassland area with many other natralised species.
NSW subdivisions: *CT
Other Australian states: *Vic. *Tas. *S.A.
A potential garden escape that may naturalise near sites of past and present cultivation. Sometimes placed in Clusiaceae.
Text by P.G. Kodela (June 2016)
Taxon concept: 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).
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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