Great St. John's Wort ~ Hypericum pyramidatum (Hypericum ascyron)
I was going to feature this St. John's Wort for the
Native Plant of the Week, but realized I had already featured it in an
earlier post.
Since that post, I have photographed many more pollinators on this native perennial.
Great St. John's Wort's native habitat includes mesic to wet areas, along the edges of wetlands and lakes. It tolerates full sun locations but prefers partially shaded locations.
Great St. John's Wort is a tall, upright bushy native. Visitors to our yard often ask if it's a shrub because of its large stature. It can reach heights of five feet in moist, rich soils, in our mesic yard, it grows to about three feet in height.
Pollinators love the large, open flowers with the numerous stamens.
Leafcutter Bees in the
Megachile genus are common visitors. Their abdomens turn bright yellow as the pollen collects on their abdominal hairs.
Leafcutter Bees also like the large leaves of Great St. John's Wort and have been cutting and collecting pieces of them for their nesting materials.
Bumble Bees also like the flowers.
Bombus griseocollis and
Bombus bimaculatus are common Bumble Bee species that are visiting the flowers in our yard.
These Long Horned Beetles (
Typocerus velutinus) have been abundant in the yard this year. Several of these beetles can be found on one Great St. John's Wort plant feeding on pollen.
Flies are attracted to the flowers too. I don't have any information on whether this
Hypericum produces nectar or not, my best guess is that it does not.
The Syrphid flies like the one pictured here are probably consuming bits of pollen that have dropped onto the petals.
Greater Bee Flies (
Bombylius major) seek nectar on the Great St. John's Wort, hovering above the flowers like hummingbirds and probe flowers with their long tubular mouthpart.
These are just a few examples of the many types of pollinators that visit Great St. John's Wort flowers. If you have a medium to moist location, this native perennial will brighten any partially shaded location with its extremely showy flowers.
I'm growing this one for the first time this year down here in Texas. I feel better after reading your post that I planted it in a good spot. Mine are still so tiny tho...I can't wait until they grow up. I'm glad you mentioned the water requirements ...I better keep an eye out..but I do have them mulched pretty good.! thanks so much for the information. I'm now going to look forward to lots of wildlife too xox ~ Pammy
ReplyDeleteGood luck Pammy, you'll really like this native.
DeleteA beautiful plant- there are several Hypericum species native in the US including at least one in Montana. However, there is also a noxious weed Hypericum perferatum, that unfortunately looks like all the Hypericum species. St John's wort (H. perforatum) continues to be planted by well meaning gardeners and causes significant ecological damage. So, be careful of which St John's wort you have or want!
ReplyDeleteGreat point David. We do have the H. perforatum here, often in dry, disturbed areas like along railways. Flowers are significantly smaller on the perforatum than this native pyramidatum. I have not seen it planted in gardens, do people plant this in your area?
DeleteThanks!
Was pruning a tree at the ranger station in Pisgah National Forest a couple weeks ago--4 of these shrubs were in the garden. Although a great buzzing commenced when I would drag branches through the shrubbery, not a single bee would be deterred from dashing back to her yellow blossoms! Great stuff, Hypericum!
ReplyDeleteGreat account, they really do love to bury themselves in the stamens.
Delete