Hypericum perforatum, known as perforate St John’s-wort,[1] is a flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae and the type species of the genus Hypericum.
Possibly a hybrid between H. maculatum and H. attenuatum, the species can be found across temperate areas of Eurasia and has been introduced as an invasive weed to much of North and South America, as well as South Africa and Australia. While the species is harmful to livestock and can interfere with prescription drugs, it has been used in folk medicine over centuries, and remains commercially cultivated in the 21st century. Hyperforin, a phytochemical constituent of the species, is under basic research for its possible biological properties.
Description
Perforate St John’s wort is a herbaceous perennial plant with extensive, creeping rhizomes. Its reddish stems are erect and branched in the upper section, and can grow up to 1 m (3 ft 3 in) high. The stems are woody near their base and may appear jointed from leaf scars.[2] The branches are typically clustered about a depressed base. It has opposite and stalkless leaves that are narrow and oblong in shape and 1–2 cm (0.39–0.79 in) long.[3] Leaves borne on the branches subtend the shortened branchlets. The leaves are yellow-green in color, with scattered translucent dots of glandular tissue.[4] The dots are conspicuous when held up to the light, giving the leaves the “perforated” appearance to which the plant’s Latin name refers. The flowers measure up to 2.5 cm (0.98 in) across, have five petals and sepals, and are colored bright yellow with conspicuous black dots.[5] The flowers appear in broad helicoid cymes at the ends of the upper branches, between late spring and early to mid summer. The cymes are leafy and bear many flowers. The pointed sepals have black glandular dots. The many stamens are united at the base into three bundles. The pollen grains are ellipsoidal.[6] The black and lustrous seeds are rough, netted with coarse grooves.[7]