Hypericum gentianoides (L.) Britton, Sterns & Poggenb.

Orange Grass; Pineweed

Herb

Annual

Vascular

Pineweed is a native herbaceous annual in the St. John’s Wort Family (Hypericaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. Pineweed occurs in sandhills, in sandy Longleaf pine forests, in open rocky woods, in prairies, and on disturbed sites and roadsides. It is an annual with a taproot. The stem is heavily branched in the upper 2/3’s and from 6-15 inches in height. The stems are green in color (reddish brown on older stems), wing-angled, glabrous, and erect. Leaves are opposite, sessile, appressed, and scale-like. The leaves are triangular to linear in outline with recurved margins. Flowers are alternate on ascending branches. Each flower has 5 linear, green sepals, and 5 orange-yellow petals. There are 5-11 yellow stamens. The fruit is a narrow, cylindrical capsule that is reddish-brown in color. It contains many small seed. Pineweed is similar to Drummond's St. John's Wort (Hypericum drummondii (Greville & Hooker) Torrey & A. Gray), which often grows in the same habitats. Pineweed has smaller leaves and is much more branched.--A. Diamond

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Native FACU (NWPL)

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