St. John's wort

Herbaceous plants with yellow flowers, St. John's wort form a group that even the most seasoned botanists find difficult to differentiate. There is no mention of it in texts prior to the first century of our era. Their name "hypericum" comes from the Greek "hyperikon" meaning "heather-like" and refers to a species with short, narrow leaves from the eastern Mediterranean region. Between May and October, they flood with their golden yellow flowers the fallow fields, the dry and wet meadows, the light woods, the old walls and the bushes. These flowers give off the smell of incense, bloom early in the morning and fade the same evening except in cool and humid weather.