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The Sampson's St.John's wort (Hypericum sampsonii) belongs to the famly Clusiaceae. It is a perennial herb that is distributed from Kochi Prefecture on Shikoku to Kyushu, Yakushima, Tanegashima, the Tokara Islands, Amami Oshima, Tokunoshima, as well as Taiwan, central and southern China, the Indochina Peninsula, and India. It grows in moist mountainous areas and reaches a height of 20 to 100 cm. The stem is erect and branches at the top. The leaves are broadly lanceolate to elliptical; the opposite leaves are widely fused at the base, with the stem passing through the center. The leaves also feature numerous light-colored spots, and the margins are lined with black dots. From around June to July, bright yellow flowers bloom in corymbs at the tips of the stems and branches. The fruit is an ovate to ovoid-conical capsule. It is listed as Endangered (EN) in the Ministry of the Environment's Red List. In Taiwanese Chinese, it is called "元寶草", and "元宝草" (yuan bao cao) in Chinese.
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