Appearance, use, and more

External characteristics of the leaves

St. John's wort is easy to use on the basis of the leaves recognize. The individual leaves are arranged in an opposing arrangement around the stem or the stems on. With a size between 1 and 3 (more rarely up to 4 cm), they are rather small.

The leaves are structured as follows: designed:

• oval to ovate
• rounded at the end
• rounded to wedge-shaped at the base
• smooth
• slim
• glabrous
• entire
• almost sitting on the stems
• colored medium green

Look closer - points become visible

At first glance, the leaves seem inconspicuous... But on closer inspection, something is clearly noticeable: The leaves have black points on the one hand and translucent points on the other. You will see this especially when you pick a leaf and hold it up against the sunlight.

On the trail of points

The translucent points that appear on the leaf blade are gaps in the tissue of the leaves. They arise because of the black points. But what are the black points? The black points are mainly distributed on the edge of the leaves. There are oil glands or Oilcontainer. They contain the essential oils of St. John's wort.

Harvest the leaves - when and how?

Not only the blossoms St. John's wort are collected for medicinal purposes. You can also use the leaves to harvest! The best time is before and during flowering. It is best to pick the entire stems and dry them at home in a dark place.

Using ideas for the leaves

You can do a lot with the leaves. They can be used to make tinctures, oils and tea, for example. You will need 45% alcohol for the tincture. A neutral-tasting oil such as rapeseed oil or sunflower oil should be used as the basis for an oil.