Hypericum alternifolium Labillardière, Icon. Pl. Syr. 2: 17. 1791.

Dwarf subshrubs, 10-30 cm tall, much branched; branches erect or obliquely ascending. Leaves dense, compressed-flat, not fleshy, those of winter elliptic or lanceolate to sublinear, 0.7-2 cm × 1-3 mm, base attenuate, subsessile, apex acute; those of summer smaller. Flowers terminal, to 1.3 cm in diam.; bracts erect, linear, nearly as long as or slightly longer than calyx, apex apiculate. Calyx 6-7 mm; sepals united in lower 1/4, upper free part ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate, apiculate. Petals pink, 0.9-1.1 cm, apex truncate, inside with 2 long, scale-like appendages. Filaments dilated in lower part, margin inconspicuously crenate. Capsule shorter than calyx. Seeds long hairy. Fl. May-Jun.

Deserts in mountains. Xinjiang [Afghanistan; SW Asia (Iran, Syria)].