St. John's Wort Hypericum perforatum super function.St. John's Wort Extract.

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Basic Botanical Info of St. John's Wort.

St. John's Wort Extract.INCI Name.HYPERICUM PERFORATUM EXTRACT,CAS.84082-80-4,EINECS ELINCS No282-026-4 photo picture image Scientific Name:Hypericum perforatum (L)
 Order: Hypericaceae
 German=Tupfelharthen, French=mille pertuis, Spanish=Hierba de San Juan, Italian=Perforata
 Botanical Source:Hypericum perforatum (L)
 Botanical Synonyms and Common names:Common St. John's Wort, perforate St. John's wort, amber, goatweed, Johnswort, Klamath weed, Tipton weed, Hyperici herba
 Name Archeology and Origin:6th Century Christians named St. John's Wort ("wort" means plant) after St. John the Baptist,as they believed the flowers bled at his beheading. In fact, small glands in the flower petals exude a red oil which contains the marker chemical of interest, hypericin.

 Botanical Description:

 Hypericum perforatum is a native British upright perennial, reaching a height of up to 90 cm. It grows throughout Britain and Europe and well into Asia and prefers open, sunny situations and dry calcareous soils. The smooth stem branches in its upper part, bearing opposite, sessile, oblong leaves which exhibit numerous translucent oil glands, as well as a few dark ones on the underside. The bright yellow five-petaled flowers, which are borne in a terminal corymb, have over fifty stamens, fused in the lower part into three bundles. The long lanceolate petals and shorter sepals are marked with dark dots. The fruit is a capsule which opens by three valves.

 A herbaceous perennial growing freely wild to a height of 1 to 3 feet in uncultivated ground, woods, hedges, roadsides, and meadows; short, decumbent, barren shoots and erect stems branching in upper part, glabrous; leaves pale green, sessile, oblong, with pellucid dots or oil glands which may be seen on holding leaf to light. Flowers bright cheery yellow in terminal corymb. Calyx and corolla marked with black dots and lines; sepals and petals five in number; ovary pear-shaped with three long styles. Stamens in three bundles joined by their bases only. Blooms June to August, followed by numerous small round blackish seeds which have a resinous smell and are contained in a three-celled capsule; odour peculiar, terebenthic; taste bitter, astringent and balsamic.

 There are many ancient superstitions regarding this herb. Its name Hyperieum is derived from the Greek and means 'over an apparition,' a reference to the belief that the herb was so obnoxious to evil spirits that a whiff of it would cause them to fly.

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Reference:

citations1.St. John's Wort Hypericum perforatum super function.St. John's Wort Extract.

last edit date:7th,May.2009.