Hypericum ellipticum Hook.
Pale St. John’s-wort, pale St. Johnswort
Pale St. John’s-wort is native to eastern North America.
Plants: 8–20″ (20–50 cm) tall. Stems are hairless, somewhat 4-angled.
Leaves: ⅜–1½ ⨉ ⅛–¾″ (1–4 cm ⨉ 3–20 mm), and elliptical-oblong in shape, generally rounded at leaf tips, and attached directly to the stem (sessile).
Flowers: Yellow, in clusters of 1 to a few at stem and branch tips. Each flower is ⅜–½″ (1–1.4 cm) around, with 5 yellow petals and 5 pale green sepals, a fountain of yellow stamens, and three styles fused into one in the center. (Rarely, the number of sepals and petals may be 4 or 6.) There are in excess of 100 stamens. Flowers appear from July to August.
Fruits: Capsules are ⅛–3/16 ⨉ ⅛–3/16″ (4–6 ⨉ 3.5–5 mm), ellipsoid, and rounded to a tip.
Habitats: At high elevations, in wet meadows and along stream banks.
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Some types of St. John’s wort. |
Online References:
References:
7/6/2017 · Mt. Watatic, access road, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 1½ × 2″ (4.3 × 5.4 cm) 
7/6/2017 · Mt. Watatic, access road, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 1¾ × 2″ (4.8 × 5.2 cm) 
7/6/2017 · Mt. Watatic, access road, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 2½ × 4″ (7.1 × 11 cm) 
7/6/2017 · Mt. Watatic, access road, Ashby, Massachusetts · ≈ 3 × 3½″ (7.6 × 9.3 cm) 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Malpighiales | A broad group encompassing 16,000 species |
| Family | Hypericaceae | St. John’s Wort family |
| Genus | Hypericum | From ancient Greek hyper, “above,” and eikon, “picture,” from an old practice of putting flowers above a picture to ward off evil spirits |
| Species | ellipticum | Elliptical, about twice as long as wide |
Hypericum ellipticum description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
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