Slender St John's-wort - Hypericum pulchrum

Description

Short to tall, hairless, erect or ascending plant. Stems rounded, often reddish. Leaves opposite, heart-shaped, clasping the main stems, smaller and short stalked on lateral shoots, dotted with translucent glands. Flowers yellow with a red tinge (particularly underneath the petals), 14 or 15 mm in lax narrow panicles. Sepal margins with black glands, anthers orange to reddish pink.

Similar Species

Other St.John's-worts. See ID Aids below.

Identification difficulty
ID guidance

Stems not ridged; sepals more or less equal; leaves without black glands but black glands on sepals and petals.

Identification aids

The St John's Wort (Hypericum) family are attractive, yellow-flowered perennials. They can look confusingly similar but can be distinguished by careful examination of key features. A hand-lens may be required (depending how good your eyesight is!). The leaf perforations are visible as translucent dots if the leaf is held up to the light.

Hypericum guide

 

Recording advice

A photo of the plant in its habitat

Habitat

Woods, heaths, dry grassy places on acid soils.

When to see it

June to August.

Life History

Perennial.

UK Status

Widespread throughout most of Britain, but often local.

VC55 Status

Local and not very common in Leicestershire and Rutland. In the 1979 Flora survey of Leicestershire it was found in 16 of the 617 tetrads.

In the current checklist (Jeeves 2011) it is listed as Native; now nearly scarce

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Elegant St. John's Wort, Slender St. John's-Wort, Slender St John's-wort
Species group:
Wildflowers
Kingdom:
Plantae
Order:
Malpighiales
Family:
Hypericaceae
Records on NatureSpot:
8
First record:
04/09/2007 (Dave Wood)
Last record:
16/07/2021 (Bell, Melinda)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

10km squares with records

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