Hypericum perforatum (St. John’s Wort)

This is a beautiful shrub, and is a great ornament to our meadows.  It has a hard and woody root, which abides in the ground many years, shooting anew every year.  The stalks run up about two feet high, spreading many branches, having deep-green, ovate, obtuse, and opposite leaves, which are full of small holes, which are plainly seen when the leaf is held up to the light.  At the tops of the stalks and branches stand yellow flowers of five leaves apiece, with many yellow threads in the middle, which, being bruised, yield a reddish juice, like blood, after which come small, round heads, wherein is contained small blackish seed, smelling like resin.  The fruit is a three-celled capsule.