Barren St. Johnswort
Hypericum sphaerocarpum
In the Carolinas and Georgia, found in limestone glades and barrens, prairies. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 88%
- Height
- Up to about 2 feet
- Spread
- 1.5–2.5 feet
- Light
- Full sun to part shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
Space about 2 ft apart from its recorded spread, about 25 per 100 sq ft. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?No photograph yet. Looking for an old drawing…
Rare or protected plant. Specialist conservation planting; excluded from routine garden suggestions. Plant caution source
Hidden from default planting suggestions. Wildlife value and native status remain unchanged.
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Perennial
- Bloom
- June to September
Not yet recorded · Leaves
Recorded in 4 Louisiana parishes.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Glades, barrens and outcrops on limestone
Open, thin-soil openings and rock on limestone, dolomite or other lime-rich rock, including cedar glades.
Open, grass-dominated places kept open by fire, grazing or thin soil, from tallgrass prairie to Piedmont prairies.
Who uses this plant?
14CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA
Genus host records with ranges including LA · Hypericum
- Acleris maculidorsanaStained-Back Leafroller Moth
- Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Iodopepla u-albumBurgundy St. Johnswort Moth, White-Eyed Borer
- Iridopsis ephyrariaPale-Winged Gray
- Mocis latipesSmall Mocis, Striped Grass Looper
- Nedra ramosulaGray Half-Spot
- Nemoria bistriariaTwo-Striped Emerald, Red-Fringed Emerald
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Probole amicariaFriendly Probole
Show all 14
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Tallula watsoniWatson's Tallula
- Zale lunataLunate Zale
- Xenotemna pallorana
43BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Hypericum
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Hypericum
- Aythya collarisRing-necked Duck
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Hypericaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 5–8
- Flower color
- Yellow
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “June to September” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Hardiness · “Zones 5–8” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Height · “Up to about 2 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center (ranked first; Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder differs)
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Light · “Full sun to part shade” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Dry to medium” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
- Spread · “1.5–2.5 feet” · Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder
Also known as
Round Seed St. Johnswort
Conservation status
| Louisiana rank | S2 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| LA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Louisiana occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications

