Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Forb/Herb

General: Erect herbaceous perennial with stems 30-70 cm tall, herbage glandular-punctate, stems simple below, branched above.

Leaves: Opposite and sessile, oval or elliptic, 1-3.5 cm long, , usually obtuse, black dotted along margins.

Flowers: Few to many in loosely leafy, branching cymes, with 5 ovate sepals 2-5 mm long, 5 petals bright yellow, 6-15 mm long, obovate, numerous stamens in 3-5 clusters.

Fruits: Dehiscent capsule about 8 mm long.

Ecology: Found in moist soil in damp meadows or forests to along streams from 4,500-9,000 (1372-2743 m); flowers July-September.

Notes: Distinctive along streams for its 5 bright yellow petals and the many stamens clumped in 3-5 clumps.

Ethnobotany: Used to bathe aching feet, for perfume, for swellings, cuts, or wounds, for toothache, for toothache, and as a mood tonic.

Etymology: Hypericum comes from the Greek hyper for above and eikon for picture, a practice of placing flowers above a picture of St. John to ward off evil, while formosum means finely formed.

Synonyms: Hypericum formosum

Editor: SBuckley, 2010