284 



HJPERICACEAE (ST. JOHN'S- WORT FAMILY) 



The whole plant is softly hairy. Flowers two inches or more broad, 

 cream-yellow, with a purplish brown spot at the base of each of the 

 five petals. Fully ripened pods are two to four inches long, nearly 

 three-quarters of an inch thick at base, tapering to a point, and 

 ten-ribbed. The ribs soon become strongly fibrous, and when the 

 fruit is wanted for food, the pods must be picked when about two 

 days old. Seeds dark brown, nearly globular, with a w r hite eye on 

 one side ; they retain their vitality for about five years. 



Means of control 



Small patches may be hand-pulled or grubbed out. More 

 extensive areas require to be put under cultivation, in order to 

 destroy the perennial roots, and stir dormant seeds into germination. 



Fio. 199 -Common 



COMMON ST. JOHN'S-WORT 



Hyperlcum perforatum, L. 



Other English names: Herb of St. John, 



Speckled John. 

 Introduced. Perennial. Propagates by 



seeds and by runners from the base of the 



stem. 



Time of bloom : June to September. 

 Seed-time: July to October. 

 Range : Throughout British America except 



in the far North, and in all the states 



except the most southern. 

 Habitat : Fields, pastures, and waste places. 



A most pernicious weed, difficult of sup- 

 pression. When young its juices are so 

 acrid and blistering that no grazing animal 

 will eat the plant ; and when mature or 

 dried in hay, stock reject it because of its 

 woody toughness. (Fig. 199.) 



Stem ten to thirty inches tall, erect, 

 slender, much branched, rather stiff, bear- 

 * along the sides two opposing ridges 



. - 



St. John's-wort (Hyperi- which make it two-edged. Leaves op- 

 cum perforatum). x \. posite, oblong to elliptic, one-half inch to 



