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Northeast Wetland Flora

Field Office Guide to Plant Species

Shrubby St. John's-wort
Hypericum prolificum L.

JPG -- Species Photo JPG -- Distribution Map

Family: St. John's-wort (Guttiferae)
Flowering: July-September
Field Marks: This species is distinguished by its shrubby habit, its flowers about 1 inch across, and its numerous stamens.
Habitat: Swamps, damp thickets, pastures.
Habit: Shrub up to 8 feet tall, the bark shredding when old.
Stems: Much branched, distinctly 2-edged, smooth.
Leaves: Opposite, simple, linear to oblong, rounded at the tip, tapering to the base, without teeth, smooth, up to 2 1/2 inches long, up to 3/4 inch wide; leaf stalk very short.
Flowers: Few to several in cymes yellow, each flower up to 1 inch across.
Sepals: 5, green, free from each other, smooth, lanceolate, pointed at the tip, up to 1/3 inch long.
Petals: 5, yellow, free from each other, striate, up to 1/2 inch long.
Stamens: Numerous and almost completely overlapping the petals, creating a powder-puff appearance.
Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3-4, united at first but separating as the fruit opens.
Fruits: Capsules ovoid, elongated, up to 3/4 inch long, up to 1/4 inch wide, smooth, containing numerous seeds.
Notes: Gleason and Cronquist call this family Clusiaceae..

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U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://www.npwrc.usgs.gov/resource/plants/florane/species/5/hypeprol.htm
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