# Chapman's St. John's-wort (Hypericum chapmanii)

> A Florida Panhandle shrub that grows like a small tree, with corky, peeling bark, needle-like leaves and yellow summer flowers.

Also called Apalachicola St. John's-wort. Category: Native Shrubs. Grown from seed by Blue Whale Trees. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/chapman-st-johns-wort/

## Facts

- Type: Shrub
- Mature height: 7 to 13 ft
- USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 9
- Grows wild in: Swamps and wet flats
- Native range: Florida
- Sun: Full, Part
- Soil moisture: Wet, Average
- Growth rate: Medium
- Traits: Rare, Showy flowers, Tolerates wet soil, Bears young
- Sold as: Saplings, Seed

Heights and zones are typical ranges for the species in cultivation; local conditions and seed source shift them.

## Availability

Not yet priced online. Ask at captain@bluewhaletrees.com or leave an email on the web page to be told when it is listed.

## Notes

Chapman's St. John's-wort grows wild only in the Florida Panhandle, in flatwoods ponds, dome swamps and the wet edges of pine savannas. It grows like a small tree on a single trunk, with needle-like leaves and a thick, spongy bark that peels in papery sheets. It was first described in 1892 under a name meaning the treelike St. John's-wort, and in 1962 it was renamed for Chapman, who described it. NatureServe ranks it vulnerable. Give it the edge of a pond or a wet, sunny hollow, where it can grow into a little tree with peeling bark.

## Size, growth and what to expect

No source rates its growth, so our growth estimator uses the middle rate, about a foot and a half a year. It makes a single-trunked shrub 7 to 13 feet tall, and some stands reach about 16 feet. The trunk can reach 8 inches across at the base, and its fluted, spongy bark peels in thin, papery sheets. The needle-like leaves run a third of an inch to an inch long.

Bright yellow flowers about half an inch across open from June into August, one to three at the branch tips. Each has about 75 stamens. Small capsules a quarter inch long follow, full of tiny seeds.

It grows wild only in the Florida Panhandle, in about ten counties from Santa Rosa east to Franklin. Its home is seasonally flooded flatwoods ponds, dome swamps, small lakes and bogs, often with myrtle dahoon and pond cypress. Pine plantations have taken some of its habitat.

## How to grow Chapman's St. John's-wort

Chapman's St. John's-wort wants full sun or light shade and a wet soil that floods for part of the year. In the wild it grows in ponds and hollows that fill and dry with the seasons. Set plants 4 feet apart and 4 feet from a wall. At its size it can go within 15 feet of overhead wires.

Saplings ship bare-root or potted. Plant them in a hole wider than the roots and no deeper. Set the crown at the soil line, put the native soil back in, and keep the mulch clear of the trunk. In the wild its seed waits in the soil until fire or other disturbance clears the ground, and then many seeds sprout. Press the fine seed onto damp, bare, sandy soil in spring without covering it, since other St. John's-worts need light to sprout.

Keep the soil wet through the first year. Fire kills it, and it comes back only from seed, so keep burns and mowers away from young plants.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Seedlings take 3 to 5 years to flower and set seed, and plants live more than 10 years. Birds carry off some of the seed.

## Sources

- [Flora of North America, vol. 6: Hypericum chapmanii (Norman K. B. Robson)](http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=250100855)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Hypericum chapmanii, Chapman's St. John's-wort](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.148570/Hypericum_chapmanii)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Hypericum chapmanii - Ilex myrtifolia - (Nyssa ursina) Wet Shrubland, North Florida Apalachicola St. John's-wort Wet Shrubland](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.686326/Hypericum_chapmanii_-_Ilex_myrtifolia_-_%28Nyssa_ursina)
- [NatureServe Explorer: Hypericum chapmanii - Hypericum lissophloeus Pondshore Shrubland Alliance](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.899512/Hypericum_chapmanii_-_Hypericum_lissophloeus_Pondshore_Shrubland_Alliance)
- [Crandall and Platt 2012, Habitat and fire heterogeneity explain the co-occurrence of congeneric resprouter and reseeder Hypericum spp. along a Florida pine savanna ecocline, Plant Ecology](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-012-0119-0)
- [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Smoothbark St. John's Wort field guide, December 2021](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/FieldGuides/Hypericum_lissophloeus.pdf)
- [Florida Natural Areas Inventory: Tracking List, 6/18/2026](https://www.fnai.org/PDFs/tracking/element_tracking_summary_current.pdf)
- [NatureServe Explorer, genus statement for Hypericum, from the Hypericum lissophloeus record](https://explorer.natureserve.org/Taxon/ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.136635/Hypericum_lissophloeus)
- [USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: Hypericum chapmanii, HYCH2](https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/HYCH2)

## Read before planting

- [Ten planting mistakes that quietly kill trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/ten-planting-mistakes/index.html.md)
- [Transplanting young trees: timing, water and protection](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/transplanting-young-trees/index.html.md)
- [Protecting young trees from voles, rabbits, deer and squirrels](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/protecting-trees-from-animals/index.html.md)
- [The habitat around a tree is part of the tree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/habitat-around-a-tree/index.html.md)
- [Invasive vines and shrubs are what is killing your woods](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md)
- [Native trees and shrubs for bees: pollen, nectar, nesting and a bloom calendar from willow to witch hazel](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/native-trees-for-bees/index.html.md)

## Related

- [Planting-site check](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md): for a thrive, struggle or fail verdict on Chapman's St. John's-wort, add ?species=chapman-st-johns-wort with zone (2 to 10), sun (full, part, shade) and moisture (dry, average, wet) to that address, for example ?species=chapman-st-johns-wort&zone=8&sun=part&moisture=average.
- [Companion species for Chapman's St. John's-wort](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=chapman-st-johns-wort): the natives that share its ground and the plants that pair with it in a yard.
- [Growth estimator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md): how the height and trunk projections are made; the estimate itself runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/#species=chapman-st-johns-wort
- [Seed sowing planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md): how Chapman's St. John's-wort is sown, in the chart for every species (treatment, cold days, depth, timing); the dated plan runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/#species=chapman-st-johns-wort
- [Pollination planner](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md): what Chapman's St. John's-wort needs for a crop and how many to plant, in the table for every species; the planner runs in the browser at https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/#plants=chapman-st-johns-wort:1
- [Bloom and fruit calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md): the months Chapman's St. John's-wort flowers and fruits, in the grid for every species.