Imperforate St John’s-wort, is a member of the Hypericum genus and a close relative of Perforate St John’s-wort. It is the perforate variety that is commonly sold over the counter as a herbal remedy for depression. The two plants are very similar. This one can raise your spirits when taken by eye.
I don’t have the pictures yet to do a close comparison with the Perforate variety but that one is called Peforate because when you hold a leaf up to the light you can see lots of little transparent dots in the leaf and this one is Imperforate because it doesn’t have transparent dots, just veins. This will be clearer when I post Perforate.
Despite it’s reputation as a medicinal plant and being grown commercially in Europe it is classified as an invasive species in many parts of the world. It is toxic to livestock and displaces native plant life and it is considered a serious threat.
Here is an interesting thing about St John’s-wort, if you crush the flower buds they exude a blood like red sap….
That is the buds. The flowers don’t do this.
Where does the blood go? I don’t know.
Sorry about all the flower squashing but I like to see this kind of thing for myself.
Hypericum maculatum.
So these flowers can lift your spirits but for me, well… They have a cousin and she is beautiful (and slender). I would like to introduce you but she is mine and I am not going to share her with anyone.
I might give you a very quick peek in a minute… 🙂
A Tramp in the Woods 
I like St John’s-wort flowers. They’re like little yellow fireworks.
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Some people will by anything to make themselves feel better. Although I prefer natural remedies I’d rather have an argument with myself if I was feeling down, and I usually think it’s best not to spend too much energy on being depressed. A good walk in the country can fix most things, but you know that already.
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Your breadth of botanical knowledge is impressive. I would start to look in the book under ‘yellow’…….
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Thank you for sharing these posts!
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