THE FLOWER-FINDER 
YELLOW OR YELLOWISH FLOWERS 
GROUP I 
Leaves opposite. Flowers with five distinct petals. 
Common St. John's-wort (Hypericum perforatum). St. 
John's-wort family. June to September. 
A perennial weed growing freely by the roadside and in the 
fields. The plant is very leafy, generally under two feet high. 
The flowers are numerous, clustered at the top, and on stalks 
from the axils of the leaves. The blossom is nearly an inch 
broad, with five pointed sepals, five irregularly rounded petals, 
much longer than the sepals, and many prominent stamens. 
The petals have tiny black dots on their margins. The leaves 
are under an inch in length, narrowly oblong, dotted, not 
toothed, growing directly on the stem (sessile). Dry ground. 
Wort means plant or herb ; its use is practically limited to com- 
pound words. 
" Her companions were carrjdng, according to custom, 
wreaths of vervain, midsummer rush, St. John's-wort, and 
motherwort. ' ' — Besant. 
Hypericum is an extensive genus, containing twenty-four 
species in northeastern America. Besides those on the page 
following there is, e.g., Great St. John's-wort (H. ascyron), 
sometimes six feet high, found about Lake Champlain and 
to the westward. Creeping St. John's-wort {H. adpressum) 
with simple stem and ascending leaves, is found in wet places 
in eastern Massachusetts. Shrubby St. John's-wort {H, pro- 
lificum) is found in New Jersey, South and West. 
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