About Hypericum frondosum Michx.
Hypericum frondosum Michx., commonly called Cedarglade St. Johnswort, is a medium-sized, highly branched shrub that grows 0.6 to 3 meters (2.0 to 9.8 ft) tall. Young stems are green; older stems become reddish brown and develop peeling or plating bark. Its opposite leaves are sessile, oblong to lanceolate in shape, growing up to 65 mm (2.6 in) long and 22 mm (0.87 in) across. Flowerheads bear up to seven golden yellow flowers, each 25 to 45 mm (0.98 to 1.77 in) in diameter with five petals. Flowering occurs between late May and August. Each flower has up to 650 numerous stamens and three-parted ovaries; when mature, the ovaries develop into an ovoid capsule containing blackish-brown seeds.
This species is native to the southeastern and central United States, where it ranges from North Carolina south to Florida, and west to Texas. It grows in dry, rocky habitats including cedar glades and rocky woodlands, and also grows in dry disturbed areas. It has been introduced to locations further north, including New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. Records of this species from South Carolina and Virginia may actually be misidentifications of Hypericum prolificum, another species in the subsection Centrosperma of the section Myriandra.
