FIELD ID CHARACTERISTICS:
Small, but recognizable by its rounded, sessile leaves.
Description: Thin-stemmed, leafy, minimally branching herb, to 30 cm tall.
Leaves: Opposite, ovate to elliptic leaves, rounded at base, up to 4 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. Leaves paler green beneath, directly attaching to stem. Leaves develop reddish spots with age.
Flowers/Fruit: Many tiny, 5-petaled, yellow flowers with long stamens, mostly at tips of branches. Yellow seeds contained in capsules. Flowering June to October; fruiting soon after.
Habit and Range: Common throughout the state in open sunny wet or damp areas like bogs, marshes, ditches, pond margins, and low areas.
COMMON CONFUSIONS:
Compare Hypericum mutilum (dwarf St. John's wort) to Hypericum punctatum (spotted St. John's wort), which is a larger plant with larger flowers that grows in dry, disturbed soils. Petals and leaves of H. punctatum have evident black oil glands.
