Hypericum calycinum Rose-of-Sharon

A bushy evergreen St John's-wort, up to 60cm tall, that produces showy yellow flowers up to 7cm in diameter with 5 styles. It is native to southern Turkey and Bulgaria but has been cultivated in Britain since the 17th Century. The strongly rhizomatous plants, which are self-incompatible, can spread and form large clonal stands but they rarely set any viable seed. It occurs naturalised along roadsides, hedgebanks and waste places and it has a widespread distribution in Britain. It can be confused with other large-flowered, cultivated St John's- worts like Hidcote Tutsan (Hypericum x hidcoteense) which is taller and has more branched stems. There are scattered records in West Glamorgan but it is not commonly naturalised in the county and most occurrences are either garden throw-outs or relics of cultivation.

Neophyte