Photo: Mason Brock, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Lloyd's St. John's-wort

Hypericum lloydii

Also called sandhill St. John's-wort.

A low, spreading shrub of sandhills and granite outcrops, with fragrant, needle-like leaves and golden flowers from June into September.

Showy flowersWildlife value

Type: Shrub
Mature height: 1–2 ft
USDA zones: 6–9
Growth rate: Slow
Sun: Full
Soil moisture: Dry, Average
Grows wild in: Sandy barrens, rocky ground and dry uplands
Native range: Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia See what is native in your state

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Lloyd's St. John's-wort is a low, spreading shrub of dry pine woods, sandhills, granite outcrops and road banks in the Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain, from the Carolinas to Georgia and Alabama. Its fragrant, needle-like leaves turn bronze in winter. In full bloom a colony along a woodland edge is covered in small golden flowers. NatureServe ranks it critically imperiled in Alabama, and it has not been seen in Virginia for many years. Use it at the front of a sunny pollinator border or on a dry bank, where it can spread into a low mat.

Size, growth and what to expect

Lloyd's St. John's-wort grows slowly, about a foot a year in our growth estimator. It makes a low mat or rounded clump, mostly 6 to 8 inches tall and up to about 20 inches, and 1 to 3 feet across. Its needle-like leaves are half an inch to an inch long.

Small clusters of golden yellow flowers, a third to half an inch across, open at the branch tips from June into September. Each has about 100 stamens. Tiny capsules follow from June into October.

It grows wild in the Piedmont and inner Coastal Plain of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, with a few sites in Alabama, and it once grew in Virginia. Its home is dry pine woods, sandhills, granite outcrops, the edges of flat rocks and road banks.

How to grow Lloyd's St. John's-wort

Lloyd's St. John's-wort needs full sun, at least six hours a day for the most bloom, and a well-drained sandy or loamy soil. It does best on dry ground. Set plants 2 feet apart and 2 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 mulch off the stems. Many St. John's-worts need light to sprout, so press the fine seed onto damp, sandy soil in spring without covering it.

Water through the first summer only when rain is short, since it prefers dry ground. It spreads by runners and rooting stems into a low colony. It needs no pruning.

Each flower carries both male and female parts, so there are no male and female plants to pair. Bees work the flowers, and songbirds visit. No significant pest or disease troubles it.

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

Sources (7)

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