A Short History of St John’s Wort 🌿

*Image courtesy of http://www.publicdomainreview.org*

The The flowering plant in the image is Ypericon, known in the modern world as St John’s Wort, a common herbal medicine to treat depression and anxiety. Hence its considered ability to repel demons, as illustrated here in the Tractatus de Herbis (c.1440) and thought to be a copy of an earlier late-12th manuscript known as Egerton 747 in the British Library.
But the plant’s history goes back much further, over 2000 years in fact. Ypericon is first mentioned in 288 BCE by Euryphon, an ancient Greek physician with the word corrupted over time to hypericum (hyper = above, eikon = image (icon)).
It was known in Britain as St John’s Wort as early as the sixth century; the yellow flowers and the plant are at their most vibrant and medicinally potent around the summer solstice of 20 – 22 June. It was such a successful plant in medicine that with the advent of christianity, it was named after St John the Baptist, whose feast day falls on 24 June.
Revered as an excellent application for bites, wounds, bruises, cold sores as well as anxiety and menopause, today it comes as a remedy for moderate depression but can have many contraindications with other medications.
In the modern world, St John’s Wort is typical of the fact that just because something is natural, doesn’t mean it isn’t harmful! Always check with your GP.

Sources:

http://www.bl.uk

http://www.handmadeapothecary.co.uk

Christopher Hobbs (1990) St. John’s Wort—Ancient Herbal Protector.
Pharmacy in History, v32(4) pp166-169