Common St. Johns Wort

Common St. Johns Wort(Hypericum perforatum)

       An introduced plant from Europe, the Common St. Johns Wort is found across most of the United States and blooms in late spring and early summer. This plant produces yellow one half inch to one inch flowers with five petals that cluster at the end of one to three foot tall stems.
       As with other species in the Clusaiceae family all parts of the plant have spots as though sprinkled with pepper, including the leaves, flowers and stems.        The leave, two and a half inches long , are ovate and opposite.
       The Common St John Words grows and is found in fields, along roadsides, and other open areas.
       This plant is consider weedy or invasive in some western states.
       The Common St. Johns Wort has a long and important history of medicinal uses including treatment of depression, bladder problems, wounds, burns, and as a general pain reliever, to name a few. New research is being done on chemicals in the Common St. Johns Wort and it's use as a possible treatment of modern diseases such as AIDS.
       It is not recommended that these plants be used as medicine or food since they may have bad side effects. Similar species, misidentified, may cause illness or death.