I’ve been interested in St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum – if you hold a leaf up to the light you can see the tiny holes or perforations) since I was studying for my first degree in Psychology in the 90s and it ended up as the subject of my final year dissertation. As with many herbs there is plenty of folklore surrounding its common name. One theory is that it tends to flower around the time of St. John the Baptist’s feast day, June 24th; another is that the red stain when you crush the yellow flowers signifies the blood of St. John, who was beheaded. In days gone by, people used to hang a fresh sprig over their beds as they slept to see if they would live for the rest of the year – if it wilted overnight then it was bad news! A similar test was used by young ladies to see if they were likely to find a husband…
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