| Author | Lamarck | |
| Distribution | Throughout the southern 60% of the Coastal Plain, north to Beaufort, Pitt, and Johnston counties, the northern edge of the species’ range. BONAP shows a record for Union County in the Piedmont, though this seems to be in error.
This is a classic Coastal Plain species, ranging north only to eastern NC, and south to central FL and west to eastern TX. It does range well inland in AL and AR.
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| Abundance | Generally common. This is the most numerous of the narrow/needle-leaved Hypericum species in the Coastal Plain. | |
| Habitat | This species has a wide range of wetland habitats, and it favors damp ground rather than shallow water that is favored by H. fasciculatum. It favors savannas, wet pine flatwoods, ditches and other damp ground such as edges of pools (but not in them) and drier parts of swamps. | |
| Phenology | Blooms from June to August, and fruits shortly thereafter. | |
| Identification | This is a deciduous shrub with widely spreading branches, growing to about 3 feet tall. It looks very similar to H. densiflorum but this species has shorter and narrower leaves (barely 1/8-inch wide), reaching about 1-1.5 inches long. H. galioides leaves average 5-10 times longer than wide; H. densiflorum averages 2.5-5 times longer than wide. Both species have dark green and rather shiny, leathery leaves. There may be some leaves in the axils, but not nearly as often as seen in the similar H. fasciculatum. Leaves of galioides are broader beyond the middle and at least some of the undersurface can be seen; leaves of fasciculatum retain a constant width and the actual undersurface cannot be seen due to inrolling. It has yellow flowers in elongate clusters at the ends of branches; H. densiflorum usually has flower clusters that are wider and often rounded. You are likely to run into many more locations for this species than for other narrow-leaved Hypericum shrubs – H. densiflorum and H. fasciculatum. (H. cistifolium also has narrow leaves, but it has upright branches and leaves angled upward, and the few branches are mostly found in the upper part of the stem.) | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
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| Other Common Name(s) | None. The genus Galium includes the species of bedstraws, and thus the common name is derived from the Latin name. | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | OBL link |
| USACE-emp | OBL link |
