9. Hypericum nitidum Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al., Encycl. 4: 160. 1797.
Myriandra nitida (Lamarck) Spach
Shrubs, erect, <forming dense thickets>, 3–45 dm, <bark smooth, not metallic-silvery>. Stems: internodes 4-lined at first, becoming 2-winged, then terete. Leaf blades linear or linear-subulate, 9–26 × 0.5–1.5 mm, base articulated, narrowly cuneate or parallel, margins revolute, apex rounded or acute to long-acuminate <with prominent hydathode>, midrib unbranched. Inflorescences <narrowly to broadly cylindric>, 3–15-flowered, sometimes with 1–3(–7)-flowered dichasia from to 6 proximal nodes, sometimes with 1–2 pairs of additional flowering branches. Flowers 10–18 mm diam.; sepals deciduous, not enclosing capsule, 5, linear-subulate, unequal to subequal, 3.5–7 × 0.4–0.8 mm; petals 5, yellow, obovate to elliptic-lanceolate, (5–)6–10 mm; stamens deciduous, 50–80(–115); ovary 3-merous; <styles shorter than ovaries>. Capsules narrowly conic to cylindric, (4.5–)5–7 × (1.3–)2–3 mm. Seeds scarcely carinate, 0.5 mm; testa finely reticulate.
Subspecies 3 (2 in the flora): se United States, West Indies (Cuba), Central America (Belize).
The two subspecies of Hypericum nitidum present in North America apparently remain distinct there; the distinctions are less clear in Cuba, where subsp. cubense (Turczaninow) N. Robson is also present.
