|
Hypericum swinkianum
Hypericum swinkianum, known as Swink's St. John's wort,[3] is a shrub in the St. John's wort family. It was named after Chicago Region botanist Floyd Swink (1921-2000).[3] DescriptionSwink's St. John's wort is a many-branched shrub up to 1.8 meters (5.9 ft) high.[1] It has exfoliating bark. The leathery, oblong leaves reach 2 centimeters (3⁄4 in) in width and 5 centimeters (2.0 in) in length, with weakly revolute edges. The flowers are produced in terminal flowerheads known as dichasia. Each dichasium produces 7-31 bright yellow flowers, each with 5 petals and numerous yellow stamens. The capsules are 5-parted. In the Chicago Region, it blooms between July and August.[3] Hypericum swinkianum differs from the closely related Hypericum kalmianum by its notably larger vegetative features, flowerheads each averaging more than 7 flowers, and an affinity toward acidic rather than calcareous habitats.[1] Distribution and habitatSwink's St. Johns wort is known to occur in sand flatwoods and acidic wet to wet-mesic sand prairies in the western Great Lakes region in the United States, including Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan.[1][3] It is a highly conservative species with a coefficient of conservatism of 10 in the Chicago Region[3] and in Michigan.[2] References
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
