Fourpetal St. Johnswort facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fourpetal St. Johnswort
Scientific classification
Genus:	Hypericum
Species:	tetrapetalum
Synonyms
Ascyrum amplexicaule Michx. Ascyrum cubense Griseb. Ascyrum tetrapetalum (Lam.) Vail

Hypericum tetrapetalum, also known as the fourpetal St. Johnswort, is a type of flowering plant. It belongs to the St. John's wort family, called Hypericaceae. You can find this plant growing in the Southeastern United States and Cuba. A scientist named Jean-Baptiste Lamarck first described it in 1797.

What Does Fourpetal St. Johnswort Look Like?

A bright yellow fourpetal St. John's wort flower.

The fourpetal St. Johnswort is a plant that lives for many years. It can be a small herb or a tiny shrub with a woody base. It usually grows about 20 to 100 centimeters (about 8 to 39 inches) tall.

When the stems are young, they have two or four lines on them. As they get older, they become smoother. The leaves are shaped like a rectangle or a triangle. They are about 5 to 35 millimeters (0.2 to 1.4 inches) long and 4 to 15 millimeters (0.16 to 0.6 inches) wide. The bottom of each leaf is heart-shaped and wraps around the stem.

The plant produces one to three flowers at the very top of its stems. Each flower is about 20 to 30 millimeters (0.8 to 1.2 inches) wide. They have four bright yellow petals and around 100 stamens. Stamens are the parts of the flower that make pollen. This plant can produce flowers almost all year long! After the flowers, it grows small, three-parted seed capsules.

This plant is similar to another one called Hypericum crux-andreae. However, the fourpetal St. Johnswort has wider leaves that wrap around the stem. Even though these two plants grow in some of the same areas, like southern Georgia and northern Florida, they don't seem to mix and create new types of plants.

Where Does Fourpetal St. Johnswort Grow?

In the United States, you can find H. tetrapetalum in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. It also grows in the western part of Cuba.

This plant likes to grow in wet areas. You can often see it in wet pinelands and ditches. It prefers to grow in sandy soil.