Hypericum androsaemum × H. hircinum
(H. × inodorum Mill.), Tall Tutsan
Account Summary
Introduction, neophyte, a very rare garden escape or discard.
28 July 2000; Northridge, R.H.; roadside W of Templerushin
Church, near Rushin Point, Upper Lough Macnean.
This semi-evergreen bushy garden shrub is a partially sterile hybrid, which is similar to H. androsaemum (Tutsan) in size and general appearance. There are up to six cultivars, some popular examples like 'Summergold' and 'Elstead' in widespread garden use largely as decorative groundcover. The plants carry 3 cm diameter yellow flowers and some forms have interesting leaf variegation, or berry colour, or both.
Fermanagh occurrence
The first find of this hybrid was not made in Fermanagh until 2000 when RHN noted a large clump by the roadside near Rushin Point, on Upper Lough Macnean in the SW of the county. This was quickly followed by three further records scattered across the shores of two other larger lakes in the VC, ie at two stations on Lough Melvin and one on the N shore of Lower Lough Erne. Details additional to the first record above are: Gublusk Bay, Lower Lough Erne, 12 October 2002, I. McNeill; Rosskit 'Island' (actually a peninsula), Lough Melvin, 14 June 2003, RHN & HJN; and Bilberry Island, Lough Melvin, 15 June 2003, RHN & HJN.
Irish occurrence
Elsewhere in Ireland, this hybrid or its shrub group has been rarely recorded in a total of ten of the 40 VCs, including Cos Tyrone, Down and Londonderry in NI (H36, H38 and H40). However, the Down record dates from 1860, and the recent records in Cos Tyrone and Londonderry were made by one field worker also active in Fermanagh, namely Ian McNeill (Reynolds 2002). This strongly suggests that this taxon is regularly being over-looked.