''Hypericum virginicum'', the marsh St. Johns-wort or Virginia marsh St. Johnswort, is a

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

in the family

Hypericaceae Hypericaceae is a plant family in the order Malpighiales, comprising six to nine genera and up to 700 species, and commonly known as the St. John's wort family. Members are found throughout the world apart from extremely cold or dry habitats. ...

. It is native to the central and eastern United States and eastern Canada.

Description

''Hypericum virginicum'' is a small herbaceous plant growing up to in height. Its leaves are sessile and opposite, sometimes clasping. The flowers grow up to in diameter, with 5 pink or white petals. It flowers in the summer to early fall and grows in

bog A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and musk ...

s, wet meadows,

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

s, swamps, and along lakeshores. It can be distinguished from the closely related '' Hypericum fraseri'' by its longer, acute sepals, and longer styles. The seeds of ''H. virginicum'' closely resemble those of the extinct paleospecies '' Hypericum tertiaerum''.

Taxonomy

Alexander Garden Alexander Gardens () was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow, Russia. The park comprises three separate gardens, which stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for between the building of the Moscow Manege and the Kr ...

first observed this plant in 1754, but following correspondence with

Jane Colden Jane Colden (March 27, 1724 – March 10, 1766) was an American botanist,Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 described as the "first botanist of her sex in her country" by ...

realized that she had previously collected and recorded the same species in 1753, one year before his discovery. As such, Jane Colden held naming rights for what both naturalists thought would be a newly described genus. Colden generously offered to name it ''Gardenia'' in Garden's honor, however this was later rejected by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

when John Ellis also proposed naming the cape jasmine ''Gardenia'' ''jasminoides'' in Garden's honor. As cape jasmine had been collected earlier (at least by 1680) it received priority in naming. In the end it was originally described as ''Hypericum virginicum'' by Linnaeus in 1759. In 1837

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; 22 October 178318 September 1840) was a French early 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ult ...

proposed placing it a new genus, ''Triadenum'', acknowledging, perhaps unknowingly, Jane Colden's original belief that ''Hypericum virginicum'' was sufficiently unique to warrant its own genus. Members of the genus ''Triadenum'' have white to pink petals, always 9 stamens, and three staminodal glands alternating between the stamen fascicles.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17847395 virginicum Plants described in 1759 Flora of Northern America