July 20, 2018

Perforate Saint-John's-wort


Perforate Saint-John's-wort (Hypericum perforatum) is a real summer plant. Right now its yellow flowers are nearly everywhere. Roafdsides, abandoned yards, cultivated fields, gardens, forest edges, even in town. It does not especially prefer certain kinds of soil and it can withstand a lot of summer drought. 








Sometimes there are only a few plants, sometimes Saint-John's-wort grows in large colonies, as here in an field left fallow this year.







Every flower has five petals, in the midst of them a paintbrush of stamina. On the rim of the petals there are tiny black spots. Those are glands and they are typical for Saint-John's-worts, nearly all species have them, not only on petals but also on green parts of the plant. 









The stems have many branches and every branch has flowers. There are small, longish leaves.






After flowering and fructification the dead stems do not disappear at once. They turn a reddish brown or nearly black colour. Beautiful with some hoarfrost!