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Clusiaceae family

Smoothbark St. Johnswort Hypericum lissophloeus

Native

Smoothbark St. Johnswort is a shrub native to the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Hypericum lissophloeus, the smoothbark St. Johnswort, is a species of flowering plant in the family Hypericaceae. It is native to the Florida Panhandle. An erect perennial shrub reaching 12 ft (4 m), it grows on the edges of sink hole ponds and is adapted to survive widely varying water levels over the course of the year, from near drowning to drought. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 11 derived from its U.S. range
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
Rain garden / bioswale — Rated OBL on the wetland list — tolerates wet feet, so it suits the soggy zone of a rain garden or bioswale that catches and filters runoff.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~20 caterpillar species

Hypericum supports ~20 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Hypericum in North America, including:

Acleris aenigmana · leafroller moth Acleris maculidorsana · Stained-Back Leafroller Agonopterix hyperella · concealer moth Agonopterix lythrella · concealer moth Agonopterix nubiferella · concealer moth Aplocera plagiata · Treble-Bar
+ 8 more species →
Caloptilia hypericella · leaf-blotch miner moth Choristoneura parallela · Spotted Fireworm Moth Choristoneura rosaceana · Oblique-Banded Leafroller Coleotechnites nigritus · twirler moth Cryptocala acadiensis · Catocaline Dart Fomoria hypericella · pygmy leafminer moth Hemithea aestivaria · Common Emerald Hyppa xylinoides · Common Hyppa
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (13) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Wetland indicator — USACE National Wetland Plant List (2022)
[08] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[09] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[11] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[12] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
[13] County range — GBIF Open Data — open-licensed occurrences (CC0/CC-BY) → county
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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