Pale St. John's-wort
Hypericum ellipticum
Found in swamp forests, wet places along streams, wet meadows. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Virginia. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 94%
- Height
- 9 inches–2 feet
- Light
- Partial shade, Full sun
- Soil moisture
- Moist to wet
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
- May to August
Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves
Recorded in 3 Virginia counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement.
Streams, rivers and their banks
Habitats
Swamps; streams, rivers and their banks; wet meadows.
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there. All habitats
Who uses this plant?
22CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including VA
Genus host records with ranges including VA · Hypericum
- Acleris maculidorsanaStained-Back Leafroller Moth
- Choristoneura rosaceanaOblique-Banded Leafroller Moth, Rosaceous Leaf Roller
- Eupithecia miserulataCommon Eupithacia, Common Pug
- Hyppa xylinoidesCommon Hyppa
- Iodopepla u-albumBurgundy St. Johnswort Moth, White-Eyed Borer
- Iridopsis ephyrariaPale-Winged Gray
- Melanchra assimilisBlack Arches
- Nedra ramosulaGray Half-Spot
- Nemoria bistriariaTwo-Striped Emerald, Red-Fringed Emerald
- Nemoria tuscaroraAppalachian Emerald
Show all 22
- Phlogophora irisOlive Angle Shades
- Platynota flavedanaBlack-Shaded Platynota
- Probole amicariaFriendly Probole
- Sparganothis sulfureanaSparganothis Fruitworm Moth, Sulfur Leafroller, False Yellow-Head
- Synchlora aerataWavy-Lined Emerald, Camouflaged Looper
- Tallula watsoniWatson's Tallula
- Xestia c-nigrumSpotted Cut-Worm, Setaceous Hebrew Character, Lesser Black-letter Dart
- Zale lunataLunate Zale
- Agonopterix hyperella
- Agonopterix lythrella
- Coleotechnites nigritus
- 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
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
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
- Flower color
- Yellow
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “May to August” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Height · “9 inches–2 feet” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Life cycle · “Perennial” · Minnesota Wildflowers
- Light · “Partial shade; Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- primary_flower_color · “yellow” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
- Soil · “Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Also known as
Pale St. John's wort; Pale St. Johnswort
Conservation status
| Virginia rank | S1 |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G5 |
| VA 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
- Virginia DCR Natural Heritage rare plant list
- Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- 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