St John's-wort, Trailing

Information on Trailing St John's-wort

Common Name: Trailing St John's-wort
Scientific Name: Hypericum humifusum
Irish Name: Beathnua sraoilleach
Family Group: Hypericaceae
Distribution: View Map (Courtesy of the BSBI)
Flowering Period


Click for list of all flowering by month
Trailing St John's-wort could sometimes be confused with:

St John's-wort, Perforate, St John's-wort, Marsh, St John's-wort, Slender,

This perennial trailing or prostrate plant has many stems.  Its few small, pale yellow five-petalled flowers (8-10mm) are borne in small leafy cymes.  It flowers from June to September.  The sepals have black-dotted margins and the small, oblong, paired leaves have black and translucent dots.  Not quite as widespread as some other St John's-worts, this plant grows on bare, sometimes sandy, ground with acid soil.  It is a native plant belonging to the family Hypericaceae. 

I first identified this plant in Laragh in 1977 and photographed it in Tullycanna, Co Wexford in 2007. 

If you are satisfied you have correctly identified this plant, please submit your sighting to the National Biodiversity Data Centre

'A small weed called St Johns Wort is used for sore eyes.'

From the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin.  NFC 96:308  From Co Wexford

St John's-wort, Trailing
St John's-wort, Trailing
St John's-wort, Trailing
St John's-wort, Trailing