Participant Info

Species

Hypericum scouleri [Hypericum formosum var. scouleri]

Family

Hypericaceae

CommonName

western St. John’s wort

Presence

YES

Status

native

EarliestDate

1997

LatestDate

2020

Ecosystem

foothill, montane

Geobotanical

SSanjuans, Culebras, NCristos

Counties

Conejos, Costilla, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

Medano

WildlifePreserves

Other Localities

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, meadow above Beaver Creek Reservoir, 2 Sept 2020

Comments

For Hypericum scouleri there are only seven Watershed localities, in the south San Juans and north Cristos—mostly along streams just above or in the flood plain (Sharples 2017). Ackerfield (2022) shows Costilla Co, with no vouchers in SEINet. Costilla Co is to be expected since there is a smattering of occurrences in the Cristos of New Mexico, suggesting the flower may be present in the Culebras. The species is present in all USA states west of the Great Plains and follows the Rio Grande drainage to the Sacramento Mountains of Otero Co, New Mexico—but not farther. Incidentally, the black glands on the edges of the leaves and elsewhere in the plant contain naphthodianthrone which, when crushed, produces a red stain—hence the connection with St. John the Martyr in the common name.

Annotation