Hypericum aegypticum
Egyptian St. John's wort
Family HypericaceaeAlso called Shrubby St. John's wort
About
A small, much-branched shrub of Eastern Mediterranean limestone coasts, with single small yellow flowers. Despite its name, it does not grow in Egypt.
Field notes
Morphology
A shrub or shrublet from 5 cm to 2 m tall with a crowded, spreading habit. Each branch ends in one small flower with five yellow petals and many stamens. Leaves are hairless with dense glands and large primary veins. The species shows heterostyly (flowers with differing style lengths).
Distribution & habitat
Found among limestone rocks near the coast in fragmented populations: subsp. aegypticum in Libya, subsp. maroccanum in Morocco and Algeria, and subsp. webbii in Sardinia, Sicily, Malta and Greece.
Cultivation notes
Rarely cultivated, but held in botanic gardens, including a greenhouse at the University of Oxford Botanic Garden.
History & etymology
Described by Linnaeus in 1753 in Species Plantarum. He named it after Egypt, although the species is not native there.
Conservation
Assessed as threatened on Malta, but it has no legal protection.
Habitat
- Altitude
- Not recorded
- Altitude class
- —
- Native to
- Malta, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Libya
Cultivation
- Difficulty
- Not recorded
Text adapted from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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