Native. Perennial. Propagates by seeds.

Time of bloom: July to September.

Seed-time: August to October.

Range: New Jersey to Southern Ontario and Minnesota, southward to Georgia and Arkansas.

Habitat: Dry soil; sandy fields, rocky upland pastures, waste places.

A very beautiful and ornamental plant, provided it might be restricted to a corner of a flower garden. Stems one to four feet tall, strong and woody, branching near the base, the branches ascending, the branchlets with side-ridges making them two-edged. Leaves two to three inches in length, pellucid dotted, narrowly oblong, obtuse, tapering toward the base, the lower ones with short petioles, those near the top sessile; in the axils are usually tufts of smaller leaves. Flowers bright yellow, each nearly an inch broad, in terminal and axillary clusters, very numerous; sepals unequal, shorter than the petals; stamens very numerous,

Fig. 200. - Shrubby St. John's-wort (Hypericum prolificum). X 1/4 not separated into clusters; styles three. Capsule long ovoid or conic, three-celled, many-seeded. (Fig. 200.)

Means Of Control

The smaller plants may be hand-pulled when the ground is soft, but many of the plants require strenuous work with the grubbing hoe. The St. John's-worts are considered indicative of exhausted soil, and after their removal the ground should be put under cultivation and well fertilized.