3. Hypericum drummondii (Grev. & Hook.) Torr. & A. Gray (nits and lice)

Sarothra drummondii Grev. & Hook.

Pl. 360 d–f; Map 1563

Plants annuals, with taproots, usually with numerous ascending branches. Stems 10–40(–80) cm long, erect, angled or slightly ridged below each leaf toward the tip, with minute, yellowish brown to dark green or black resinous dots, green to reddish brown, sometimes turning orangish brown with age, sometimes peeling in thin strips with age. Leaves not jointed at the base, strongly ascending. Leaf blades 5–22 mm long, 0.5–1.5 mm wide, linear, needlelike, bluntly to sharply pointed at the tip, tapered or narrowed at the base, the margins somewhat rolled under at maturity, somewhat leathery in texture, with 1 main vein visible, the surfaces with minute, yellowish brown to dark green or black resinous dots, the upper surface green, the undersurface usually somewhat paler, but not glaucous. Inflorescences of mostly solitary flowers in the leaf axils, sometimes with small, loose clusters of 3 or 5 flowers at the branch tips. Flowers actinomorphic. Sepals 5, all more or less similar in size and shape, 3–7 mm long, not becoming enlarged at fruiting, narrowly lanceolate to narrowly oblong-lanceolate, with minute, yellowish brown to black dots, lines, and/or streaks. Petals 5, 4–7 mm long, oblong-obovate, orangish yellow, withered and inconspicuous but usually persistent at fruiting. Stamens 10–22, the filaments sometimes irregularly spaced but usually not fused into groups. Ovary 1-locular, with parietal placentation. Styles 3, free above the base, more or less spreading, the stigmas capitate. Fruits 4.5–7.0 mm long, at maturity as long as or slightly longer than the sepals, narrowly ovoid, widest slightly below the midpoint, tapered to the persistent styles, more or less circular in cross-section. Seeds numerous, 0.9–1.1 mm long, the surface with a coarse network of ridges and pits, light brown to dark brown. 2n=24. June–September.

Scattered nearly throughout the southern half of the state and in the eastern portion of the Glaciated Plains Division (eastern U.S. west to Iowa, Kansas, and Texas). Glades, upland prairies, ledges and tops of bluffs, openings of dry upland forest, savannas, and less commonly banks of streams; also fallow fields and old fields, on acidic substrates.