HYPERICUM ACIFERUM
Family and Genus:- See- GUTTIFERAE/Sect. TRIADENIA
Common Names:- None
Homotypic Synonyms:- Elodes aciferum.
Meaning:- Hypericum (Gr) Above-pictures. A name used by the Greek physician
and botanist Dioscorides for its use over shrines to repel evil spirits.
Aciferum (L) Possibly meaning - with needle like leaves.
General description:- Low much-branched, often pendent shrublet without black
glands.
Leaves:-
1) Opposite, 5-12 mm long, linear, ericoid, glaucous and glabrous.
Flowers:-
1) In groups of (1-)3, pedicellate, campanulate, heterostylous.
2) Sepals, entire suberect, elliptical.
3) Petals, c. 9 mm, lemon yellow to bright yellow. deciduous.
4) Stamens, short, in 3 fasicles, persistent.
Fruit:-
1) Ovary, with 2 ovules in each loculus.
2) Seeds, c. 1.8 mm, broadly cylindrical, with longitudinal rows of small pits,
reddish-brown, with small fleshy a caruncle.
Key features:-
1) Herb or microphyllous shrub.
2) Stamens, and usually petals persistent.
3) Stamens, in 3 fascicles.
4) Leaves, linear.
5) Flowers, usually in groups of three, pedicellate.
6) Ovary, with 2 ovules in each loculus.
Habitat:- Shady calcareous cliffs in gorges near to the sea.
Distribution:- A rare local endemic, discovered in 1962 and known only from a few
populations on the fairly inaccessible stretch of coast between Sougia and Agia
Roumeli
Flowering time:- May-June also October
Photos by:- Christopher Cheiladakis
Status:-
Conservation status (for threatened species): Vulnerable (V) according
to the Red Data Book of Rare and Threatened Plants of Greece (1995).
IUCN 1997 Record it as Vulnerable (V).
Protection status (for threatened species): Greek Presidential Decree 67/1981,
Bern Convention, EU Dir.1992/43 (Ann.IV)
Plant species with restricted geographical distribution.
SPECIES DESCRIPTION
