St. John’s wort is a perennial herb distributed throughout Europe, North America, the Middle East and China. It is easily identified by its star-shaped yellow flowers, the petals of which are edged with tiny black dots. The leaves contain oil glands that are marked by dots that appear translucent when held up to the light.
While the window-like feature of the leaves gave rise to St. John’s wort’s genus name, the plant’s species name was inspired by the Greek words hyper and eikon, which respectively mean “above” and “picture.” This is a reference to the tradition of hanging stems of St. John’s wort over windows and doorways on June 24th to protect the home and to honor the birthday of John the Baptist, for whom the plant was named.
St. John’s wort is well known for its therapeutic value for mild to moderate depression and has been studied extensively for this purpose. However, because this herb is also known to interact with many other medicines, you should not use this herb without consulting your doctor.
Applied topically, oil infusions are traditionally used to promote wound healing and to soothe muscular pain.
