ST. JOHNSWORT FAMILY 
\ ' \ 
(Hypericacece ) , 
Common St. . Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) 
(European) is a wanderer from the old world that, 
having reached our hospitable shores, proceeded to mul 
tiply and over-run the native plants so that it is now 
regarded by farmers as a pest along with the Wild 
Carrot and Mustard. If it is true that in the struggle 
for existence, the fittest survive, then surely this spe¬ 
cies must be one of the fittest; we often see it growing 
lustily in circumstances under which few plants could 
exist. It grows promiscuously in fields or along road¬ 
sides. Even a generous sprinkling of tarvia, received 
when the roads were sprinkled, failed to kill this plant, 
although many other species died from the effects. 
It has a slender but tough stem from one to two 
feet high; it has numerous short branches, each crowded 
with tiny, stiff, oval leaves. The upper branches ter¬ 
minate in clusters of 5-parted, golden-yellow flowers 
with numerous, long, yellow stamens. This species 
blooms from July until September. 
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