Hypericum calycinum, commonly called the Rose of Sharon, is a shrubby species of Hypericum, family Clusiaceae, noted for its much larger flowers than most other species in the genus. It is a low, creeping, woody shrub to about 1 m tall and 1-2 m wide but often smaller. The green, ovate leaves grow in opposite pairs. The solitary flowers are 3-5 cm in diameter, a rich yellow, with five petals, and numerous yellow stamens. It is indigenous to southeast Europe and southwest Asia. It is a popular evergreen garden shrub, with many named cultivars and hybrids derived from it, e.g. Hypericum 'Hidcote', in the photograph, top right.
Other common names are: Aaron's beard, Great St-John's wort, Jerusalem star.
The name Rose of Sharon is also sometimes confusingly applied to an entirely unrelated species, Hibiscus syriacus.
Hypericum is a genus of about 400 species of flowering plants in the family Clusiaceae, formerly often treated separately in their own family the Hypericaceae.
Various Hypericum species are exclusively used as food plants by the larva of the Treble-bar, a species of moth.
Hypericum perforatum is used in herbalism as an antidepressant.
It should be noted that though there are other species of Hypericum they are not mentioned in the Commission E monographs and very little medical research has been conducted on them to date.
Today, Hypericum Perforatum is a very common antidepressant sold in Germany, and there is speculation that it is prescribed four times more often than fluoxetine hydrochloride.
The data collected and reviewed from these studies showed Hypericum extracts to be "significantly superior to a placebo" and "similarly effective as standard antidepressants".
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