| Author | W.P. Adams & Robson | |
| Distribution | Formerly found only in the southern Coastal Plain, in Bladen and Sampson counties. However, there are no records since 1957. A specimen from Island Creek in Jones County (at NCU) is actually H. nudiflorum.
This is a Coastal Plain species ranging north to southern NC (formerly), south to central FL and west to eastern LA.
| |
| Abundance | Into the 1950s, it was very rare, but it is now extirpated. Of course, it could always be re-discovered, as it currently is known from south-central SC. It is a State Special Concern species. | |
| Habitat | In NC, it formerly occurred in mesic pinelands, probably mostly in Mesic Pine Flatwoods. One site was reported as “savanna”, but the species is normally found in somewhat sandy pinelands. |
| Phenology | Blooms very early for a Hypericum, from April into June; fruits shortly thereafter. | |
| Identification | This is a tiny, deciduous and generally decumbent “shrub”, widely branching but with the short erect stems only reaching 4-5 inches high. The many opposite and elliptical to ovate leaves are crowded on the stem but are only 1/8-1/4-inch long and slightly narrower. In general, the leaves angle upward toward the tip of the stem. The yellow flowers have 4 petals and are mostly in a + shape as opposed to an X (as in H. hypericoides and H. stragulum); they are large for the size of the plants, and are about 1/2-inch across – wider than the leaves are long. It seems certain that no one alive has ever seen this species in the state, and thus the best habitats to target for searching are unknown in NC. As such a tiny, prostrate “shrub” could be easily overlooked if not in bloom, it appears that surveys of pinelands needs to be done from April into June, to catch some flowers in bloom. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Many decades ago this was one of the several 4-petaled Hypericum species assigned to the genus Ascyrum, in this case as Ascyrum pumilum.
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Dwarf St. Peter’s-wort | |
| State Rank | SH | |
| Global Rank | G4G5 | |
| State Status | SC-H | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
