Hypericaceae

St. John's-worts

From Streeter et al., (2016), 'Family key':

"Herbs or small shrubs with entire, opposite leaves and yellow flowers; 5 petals, free; sepals and petals often fringed with black glands, stamens numerous and joined together in bundles."

For the specimen(s) below, hover over image in gallery for description and select for a full screen preview.

ID: 040

Date: 11 Jun 2024

Locality: Calvert Jubilee nature reserve

Location (Lat/Long): 51.918, -1.002

Landscape/habitat: At the edge of some dense scrub as the path opened out in the broadleaf woodland area of the site.

Identification notes: I spotted this in the undergrowth. I was looking for a Hypericum and saw the opposite leaves and the beginning of some yellow flowers opening. On closer inspection I could see the black glands on the sepals.

Streeter et al. (2016, p. 160) has a key to St John's-worts, which is followed below, along with my observations:

• 1 'Plant not shrubby, stems not woody or only at base' (stem was not at all woody, and was easily bent towards me to get a better view).

• 2 'Stems and leaves conspicuously hairy' (both the stem and leaves were clearly hairy, as per the photos in the gallery below)

• 9 'Plant erect, leaves ovate, downy; edge of speals with black glands; dry grassland, scrub' (the plant was standing tall/erect, with downy leaves of the same shape. Photos below clearly show the black glands on the sepals. Habitat matches where it was found) H. hirsutum

Additional detail from the description (Streeter et al, 2016, p. 158) suggests the stem is 'without raised lines'. I could not see any such lines, also not shown in the photos.

Name: Hairy St. John's-wort, Hypericum hirsutum

References

Streeter, D., Hart-Davies, C., Hardcastle, A., Cole, F. and Harper, L. (2016) Collins wild flower guide. Revised and updated 2nd edition. edn. London: William Collins.