Azores St John's wort
Hypericum foliosum
Family · Hypericaceae · Irritating
The Azorean St John's wort, a subshrub with dense leaves and golden yellow flowers with a tuft of stamens in the middle, covering road banks and channel edges on every island.
Scrubland · Uplands · Walls and rocks · Streams and ditches
Also known asleafy St John's wort
How to tell it
A subshrub woody at the base, very leafy, with opposite stalkless leaves packed and overlapping along the stem. Against the light the leaves show translucent dots, the family's mark. Yellow flowers two to three centimetres, with many stamens in bundles. Range: endemic to the Azores.
What it is confused with
St John's wort
Hypericum perforatum
The mainland one has a two-ridged stem and spaced leaves; the Azorean is far leafier, its leaves overlapping. And they do not overlap geographically. Both share the same interaction problem.
Open sheet →What it is for
A traditional infusion in the Azores, with the same uses as mainland St John's wort. The genus warning applies and it is serious: St John's worts increase skin sensitivity to sun and interfere with a lot of medication, including contraceptives and antidepressants. Traditional use, in the past, and not a casual tea plant.
With documented traditional uses. Not a therapeutic indication and not a dose.