Hypericum setiferum
Hypericum setiferum Stef.
Clusiaceae – St. John’s Wort family
Conservation status. Extinct [EX]. BDA. Bulgarian endemic.
Morphology and biology. Herbaceous perennial. Stems 1 to few, 30–40 cm high. Leaves cordate at base, amplexicaul, with short hairs on the lower surface. Flowers in loosly paniculate inflorescences. Petals 10–15 mm long, yellow. Fruit a conical capsule, with dorsal elongated ovate vesicles. Seeds small, longitudinally ribbed. Fl. V–VI, fr. VI–VII. Insect pollination. Reproduction by seeds, dispersed through barochory and zoochory.
Habitats and populations. Grows in dry grassy and stony scrubland, on siliceous bedrock in the xerothermic oak-forests belt.
Distribution in Bulgaria. Thracian Lowland (Dzhendemtepe in Plovdiv). Discovered in 1914. Known only from the type collection despite the targeted ongoing search since. Reported in 1970 for the vicinities of Pirin village in Pitin Mts but no herbarium material was deposited. It is very likely the material was erroneously identified, and thus, the species should be considered extinct.
General distribution. Bulgaria.
Threats. Unknown.
Conservation measures taken. Protected species by the Biodiversity Act.
Note. The taxonomic value and position of this taxon need to be critically re-evaluated. It is very likely that the original material used for description of the species represents an aberrant type of any of the morphologically similar species. In this case Hypericum setiferum should be regarded a synonym of the respective species.
References. Stefanoff 1929; Jordanov & Kožuharov 1970; Stanev 1984, 2000.
Author: Stefan Stanev
