Preferred Habitat - Escaped from cultivation to waste sandy loam, fields, roadsides.
Flowering Season - August-October.
Distribution - Common or frequent, except at the extreme North.
There was a time, not many years ago, when this now common and often troublesome weed was imported from India and tenderly cultivated in flower gardens.In the Orient it and allied species are grown for their fiber, which is utilized for cordage and cloth; but the equally valuable plant now running wild here has yet to furnish American men with a profitable industry.Although the blossom is next of kin to the veiny Chinese bell-flower, or striped abutilon, so common in greenhouses, its appearance is quite different.
ST.ANDREW'S CROSS
(Ascyrum hypericoides; A.Crux-Andreae of Gray) St.
John's-wort family Flowers - Yellow, 1/2 to 3/4 in.across, terminal and from the leaf axils.Calyx of 4 sepals in 2 pairs; 4 narrow, oblong petals; stamens numerous; 2 styles.Stem: Much branched and spreading from base, 5 to 10 in.high, leafy.Leaves: Opposite, oblong, small, seated on stem.
Preferred Habitat - Dry, sandy soil; pine barrens.
Flowering Season - July-August.
Distribution - Nantucket Island (Mass.), westward to Illinois, south to Florida and Texas.
Because the four pale yellow petals of this flower approach each other in pairs, suggesting a cross with equals arms, the plant was given its name by Linnaeus in 1753.ST.PETER'S-WORT (A.
stans), a similar plant, found in the same localities, in bloom at the same time, has larger flowers in small clusters at the tips only of its upright branches.
COMMON ST.JOHN'S-WORT
(Hypericum perforatum) St.John's-wort family Flowers - Bright yellow, 1 in.across or less, several or many in terminal clusters.Calyx of 5 lance-shaped sepals; 5 petals dotted with black; numerous stamens in 3 sets 3 styles.Stem: to 2 ft.high, erect, much branched.Leaves: Small, opposite, oblong, more or less black-dotted.
Preferred Habitat - Fields, waste lands, roadsides.
Flowering Season - June-September.
Distribution - Throughout our area, except the extreme North;Europe, and Asia.
"Gathered upon a Friday, in the hour of Jupiter when he comes to his operation, so gathered, or borne, or hung upon the neck, it mightily helps to drive away all phantastical spirits." These are the blossoms which have been hung in the windows of European peasants for ages on St.John's eve, to avert the evil eye and the spells of the spirits of darkness."Devil chaser" its Italian name signifies.To cure demoniacs, to ward off destruction by lightning, to reveal the presence of witches, and to expose their nefarious practices, are some of the virtues ascribed to this plant, which superstitious farmers have spared from the scythe and encouraged to grow near their houses until it has become, even in this land of liberty, a troublesome weed at times."The flower gets its name," says F.Schuyler Mathews, "from the superstition that on St.John's day, the 24th of June, the dew which fell on the plant the evening before was efficacious in preserving the eyes from disease.So the plant was collected, dipped in oil, and thus transformed into a balm for every wound."Here it is a naturalized, not a native, immigrant.A blooming plant, usually with many sterile shoots about its base, has an unkempt, untidy look; the seed capsules and the brown petals of withered flowers remaining among the bright yellow buds through a long season.No nectar is secreted by the St.John's-worts, therefore only pollen collectors visit them regularly, and occasionally cross-fertilize the blossoms, which are best adapted, however, to pollinate themselves.
The SHRUBBY ST.JOHN'S-WORT (H.prolificum) bears yellow blossoms, about half an inch across, which are provided with stamens so numerous, the many flowered terminal clusters have a soft, feathery effect.In the axils of the oblong, opposite leaves are tufts of smaller ones, the stout stems being often concealed under a wealth of foliage.Sandy or rocky places from New Jersey southward best suit this low, dense, diffusely branched shrub which blooms prolifically from July to September.
Farther north, and westward to Iowa, the GREAT or GIANT ST.
JOHN'S-WORT (H.Ascyron) brightens the banks of streams at midsummer with large blossoms, each on a long footstalk in a few-flowered cluster.
LONG-BRANCHED FROST-WEED; FROST-FLOWER; FROST-WORT; CANADIANROCK-ROSE
(Helianthemum Canadense) Rock-rose family Flowers - Solitary, or rarely 2; about 1 in.across, 5-parted, with showy yellow petals; the 5 unequal sepals hairy.Also abundant small flowers lacking petals, produced from the axils later.Stem: Erect, 3 in.to 2 ft.high; at first simple, later with elongated branches.Leaves: Alternate, oblong, almost seated on stem.
Preferred Habitat - Dry fields, sandy or rocky soil.
Flowering Season - Petal-bearing flowers, May-July.
Distribution - New England to the Carolinas, westward to Wisconsin and Kentucky.
Only for a day, and that must be a bright sunny one, does the solitary frost-flower expand its delicate yellow petals.On the next, after pollen has been brought to it by insect messengers and its own carried away, the now useless petal advertisements fall, and the numerous stamens, inserted upon the receptacle with them, also drop off, leaving the club-shaped pistil to develop with the ovary into a rounded, ovoid, three-valved capsule.
