St John's Wort

I couldn't think of anything tiny related to the Solstice, but then I remembered the St John's Wort flowers I had seen in the garden of the other house. As we needed to go there today anyway, here it is: St John's Wort or Hypericum Perforatum, named after St John, because its flowers usually bloom and are harvested around the time of the Summer Solstice on the Northern Hemisphere which is also around  St John's Feast Day, the 24th of June. The herb would be hung on the house and stall doors on St John's Feast Day to ward off evil. It's a herb which has been used in traditional medicine for ages, apparently good as an antidepressant.

See the extra to discover why the scientific name has the term perforatum (=perforated) in it, the leaves have translucent dots, which are dots of glandular tissue.

For Tiny Tuesday with an optional theme of something related to the Solstice with thanks to Jensphotos for hosting this month :-)

Thanks very much for the kind comments, stars and even hearts for yesterday's heart-shaped measuring spoons :-)

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