Hypericaceae

Perennial non-woody (herbaceous) plants with opposite entire leaves that often have tiny translucent dots (oil-filled cavities) visible when held to the light; flowers clumped (cymes), at the end of the stem or where the leaves join the stem (axils), the terminal flower in each cluster opening first.

Petals 5, convolute, yellow, pink, or flesh-coloured, occasionally more orange or coppery. Sepals 5, persistent, often unequal, sometimes only 2 fully developed. Stamens 5 to numerous, separate or fused at base, often into 3 or 5 definite bundles. The bundles sometimes alternating with 3 conspicuous glands at base of the carpels. Carpels 2-5, ovary 1, located above the point at which the other flower parts are connected and with one to several chambers, styles persistent, elongate and distinct, often fused below. Fruit a capsule, sometimes with longitudinal stripes (Marsh St. John’s-worts). Seeds short and cylindric, their surfaces marked with clearly bounded areas. Stipules usually absent. Buds at top of plant exposed.

Most New Brunswick species have an affinity for damp or wet areas, e.g., ditches, shores, marshes.