Welcome to Hypericum online
Hypericum is a genus of 490 species of flowering plants in the family Hypericaceae. Hypericum includes St John’s Wort (H. perforatum L.), an economically important medicinal crop plant with demonstrated anti-viral, anti-depressive and anti-cancer properties. Many species are cultivated as ornamentals.
Hypericum is predominantly temperate in distribution, occurring only in montane areas of the tropics. It is one of the 100 largest genera of flowering plants, which collectively comprise an estimated 22% of angiosperm diversity. The species-level taxonomy of most of these genera is poorly known, presenting a substantial barrier to completing the global inventory and to understanding the evolution of the diversity they contain. Hypericum is a notable exception as a worldwide monograph of the genus was produced by Norman Robson in a series of papers between 1977 and 2012. The monograph is now being revised and the updated treatment of the genus forms the basis of this site. Please browse this classification via the Nomenclature tab.