THE WEEDS OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum L.). 

 (HYPEKICACE^: St. John's Wort Family.) 



Other Vernacular Names." St. John's Blood " (because of the dye pro- 

 duced by the petals) ; " Witch's Herb." 



Botanical Name. Hypericum, said to be from two Greek words, uper and 

 eicon (ikon), an image; the superior part of the flower represents a figure, 

 but I am not clear as to the derivation myself; perforatum, Latin, in 

 allusion to the oil-dots of the leaves. 



Botanical Description, An erect glabrous perennial 1 to above 3 feet high, 

 with a woody creeping root difficult to extirpate. 



Leaves sessile, opposite, each pair covering those below them, oblong, obtuse, 

 entire, generally about f-inch long, of a paler green colour underneath than 

 above, sprinkled with pellucid dots. 



Flowers large, bright yellow, in a forked leafy panicle terminating the stem. 



Calyx cleft into five lanceolate pointed lobes. 



Petals five. 



Stamens numerous, with long filaments more or less distinctly united at the 

 base into three bundles. 



Ovary three-celled, with three styles with a terminal stigma. 



The glands on the petals in the accompanying illustration are a little 

 diagrammatic. It must be taken into consideration that the glands are less 

 prominent in the living plant than in the dried plant. The tissue of the petals 

 dries up with the exception of the oil glands, which remain unchanged. Oil glands 

 are always more prominent in herbarium specimens than in the living plant. 



All Australian specimens belong to a more narrow-leaved form than the 

 common English St. John's Wort. 



Fruit. A dry capsule .with rather numerous small seeds. The plant is 

 most easily recognised by the oil-glands on the leaves, which are easily seen 

 when held against the light, and give the leaf a perforated appearance. 

 These oil dots pervade the whole plant, and are mixed with fewer dark purple 

 opaque dots, especially on the flower, where the dark dots are frequently 

 crowded along the margin of the petals as shown in the illustration. 



Fodder or Other Uses. This plant has been used in domestic medicine in 

 Europe from time immemorial, for example, in dysentery, phthisis, for 

 wounds, &c. ; oil boiled with the herb is used externally in -rheumatism and 

 gout. Mr. Theodor Liides, pharmaceutical chemist, of Holland's Plains, 

 favours me with the following interesting letter concerning it: 



" I dare say it is still used by the peasants on the east coast of Jutland 

 (Denmark) as a tonic in the form of a tincture, prepared by maceration of the 

 flowering tops with Aquki vitoe ("Aquavit" the Danish spirituous liquor a 

 " spiritus aromaticus " flavoured with caraway, fennel, &c. ) . I remember when 

 I was an apprentice there was a great demand for an Ol. Hyperic, prepared 

 lege artis from the dried herb and olive oil said oil was used as_a "cure-all'" 

 for rheumatism, bruises, &c., &c., but, as a substitute olive oil (pure and 

 simple), coloured with alkanna root extract, had the same good action as the 

 original article. It is open to doubt if the real Ol. Hyperioanus had any 

 medicinal properties at all. (Like a lot of other liniments, the rubbing does 

 the trick.*) I have in the end of the eighties made great quantities of Tinct. 

 Hyperici, which was sold to a manufacturer of bitters. The tincture is of an 

 aromatic bitter taste, and has, of course, a little flavour from the small quan- 

 tity of ethereal oil contained. That the different species of Hypericum should 

 be poisonous for cattle I doubt very much, as they are very common as a weed 

 in Denmark. Were they poisonous the farmers there would soon declare war 

 against them." 



The petals contain yellow and red dyes, which have been isolated by 

 Dieterich (Pharm. Centralb, 1891, 683). The red juice of the flowers was 

 considered by ancient classical writers to be a signature of human blood, and 

 was hence employed as an application to wounds. 



* This professional secret is published for general information. 



