☀️ St. John's Wort

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

A plant of wasteland and dry slopes, easily identified by holding a leaf up to the light: it appears peppered with tiny translucent dots, as if perforated by pinpricks—these are tiny essential oil glands, not actual holes, which gave it its Latin species name. Bright yellow flowers with 5 petals, whose edges are often dotted with tiny black spots that stain your fingers red when crushed.

1. opposite, sessile leaves, peppered with tiny translucent dots visible against the light (essential oil glands)
2. bright yellow flowers with 5 petals, numerous stamens, black dots along the petal edges
3. crushing the flower buds or petals releases a reddish-purple pigment (hypericin) that stains your fingers
4. erect stem with 2 raised ridges (nearly round in cross-section but with 2 distinct ridges)
5. grows in clumps on dry, sunny soils, wasteland, and embankments

💊 Healing with it

well-established medicinal use recognized by the EMA for the short-term treatment of symptoms of mild, temporary depressive states (standardized dry extract), efficacy supported by clinical trials

Level of evidence : solid studies — EMA — monographie Hypericum perforatum L., herba (révision 1)

⚠️ MAJOR DRUG INTERACTIONS: St. John's Wort strongly induces hepatic enzymes CYP3A4, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, and P-glycoprotein, reducing the effectiveness of many medications (oral contraceptives, anticoagulants like warfarin, cyclosporine, certain antiretrovirals, digoxin, benzodiazepines...)—concurrent use is contraindicated with several of these treatments; it also causes photosensitization (hypericin): avoid intense sun exposure during treatment; never combine with ongoing medication without medical advice

🪓 Other bushcraft uses

• red St. John's Wort oil (maceration of flowering tops in oil, colored red by hypericin) traditionally used topically on minor burns and sunburns