Hypericum perforatum L. – St. John's wort
Clusiaceae (Hypericaceae) family
The raw material is the shoot tip, harvested at the start of the blooming and dried in natural conditions, shaded and ventilated, or in drying rooms in max. 40° C.
St. John's wort – appearance and origin:
Perennial, common in meadows, glades, mountainsides, at edges of forests, in thin shrubs – in Central Europe, including Poland, in West Asia, North America and North Africa. Sometimes grown on barren soil.
Grows up to 1 m in height, strongly branched stem which is woody at the bottom. Leaves are opposite, elliptic or oblanceolate, around 2 cm in length. The leaves have numerous translucent dots containing oil which can be seen against light. Numerous yellow flowers with brown spots (hypericin glands) at tips and edges. The flowers gather in a thick inflorescence – a corymb.
A Polish naturalist, doctor and botanist Szymon Syreński (Simon Syrenius) named St. John's wort "Miss Mary's bells". The plant is also called the herb of St. John's Eve because of its supposed magical properties. It was believed to repel evil spells and devils. On St. John's Eve, it was one the herbs used to weave wreaths and for burning in bonfires.
St. John's wort – effects and use:
The St. John's wort heb contains several different chemical ingredients. Because of its unique biologically active anthranoid ingredient, hypericin, and related compounds (pseudohypericin, protohypericin, cyclopseudohypericin), it can be considered a raw material containing anthranoid compounds. Besides anthranoids, the herb contains flavonoids (hyperoside, rutoside, quercetin), biflavonoids and procyanidins, catechin tannins and phenolic acids. Fresh flowers contain labile hyperforin, which breaks down during drying.
The St. John's wort herb has diverse activity, depending on the drug form. Oil or alcohol solutions containing lipophilic ingredients, including hypericin, and also xanthone and phloroglucinol derivatives (MAO inhibitors and CNS stimulants), possess antidepressant properties. Additionally, hypericin increases the skin's ability to absorb UV rays which can also contribute to sunburns.
Flavonoids have a spasmolytic effect on smooth muscles of the gastrointestinal tract, bile ducts, blood vessels, and of the urinary tract to some extent. Oil ingredients and tannins have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity.
The herb is used for functional disorders and inflammations of the liver, and also for gastrointestinal diseases as a spasmolytic.
Used externally, the herb's extracts speed up wound healing.
PL