Hypericum L.
Genus composed of about 20 species in North Africa, of which only one is shrubby, H. hircinum. Other species, mainly H. androsaemum, H. afrum and H. aegyptium have slightly lignified stems, at least at the base and frequently exceed 0.5 m in height. The rest are small usually perennial herbaceous plants, but only slightly or not woody at all.
H. afrum Lam., with small leaves (6-15 × 2-5 mm), with undulate-crispate margin and with a dehiscent capsule. It has a relatively small distribution, growing along riverbanks and wetlands in isolated populations, endemic to the Numidian region, from Great Kabylia (northern Algeria) to Cap Serrat (NW Tunisia).
H. aegypticum L. also has very small leaves (3-10 mm in length), with entire margin, neither undulate nor crispate, glaucous, sometimes imbricate, with petals, sepals and persistent stamens. It grows in rocky and stony areas, mainly in semiarid bioclimate, frequently close to the sea, in different islands of the western Mediterranean, Morocco, Algeria (Saharan Atlas) and Libya (Marmarica). In Morocco, there is an endemic subspecies, subsp. maroccanum (Pau) N.Robson, distributed mainly through mountainous massifs, at low altitude, in the Saharan Atlas, Anti-Atlas and southern High Atlas.
H. androsaemum L., a lianescent species, with large leaves (30-100 mm long), neither undulate nor crispate and with characteristic drupaceous not dehiscent fruits; it grows in the Mediterranean region and nearby areas. In North Africa it grows in the cooler and humid soils of northern Morocco and Algeria and in NW Tunisia.
H. aegyptium and H. androsaemum have not been assessed at a global level on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. H. afrum is listed at a global level in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as Near Threatened (NT) (Ali, 2010). In Algeria H. aegyptiacum is included in the List of protected non cultivated flora (Executive Decree 12-03 on 4-Jan-2012).
Robson N.K.B. 1986. A review of Hypericum sect. Hirtella. Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 43: 255-265.
Key to species
1 Leaves with entire margins, not undulate 2
1 Leaves with undulate-crispate margins Hypericum afrum
2 Leaves larger (30-100 mm). Seeds without wings 3
2 Leaves small (3-10 mm). Winged seeds Hypericum aegypticum
3 Petals 4-10 mm. Fruit an indehiscent drupe, first red, then black Hypericum androsaemum
3 Petals 10-20 mm (in the North African subsp. 15-20 mm). Fruit capsule dehiscent in 3 valves, brownish Hypericum hircinum
Updated by: A.V. Pérez Latorre & J. Charco.