St. John's Wort vs. French Broom the case of mistaken ID

[Kelly J.]

On my journey herbalist journey I have been adventuring in my backyard searching for medicinal plants. There are quite a few here. I have downloaded a Plant Id app and I have found that it is very accurate, except for this case.

I remember buying the plant on the left and planting it years ago, but forgot what the name was so I tried the plant Id app and it came back St. John’s Wort….What!?!?! Not once but several times, now I have dabbled in the plant/herbal kingdom since I was a kiddo, so I know what St. John’s Wort is and what it is used for. I even had taken it during an especially trying time at work and it does work.

Needless to say I was beyond excited!!!! I wanted to harvest and start making medicinal potions with it, BUT my little buddy, my inner voice kept going hmmmmmm I don’t think so. I thought about it and since I had bought the plant something kept telling me that I would of remember if it was St. John’s Wort and it didn’t feel right.

So I waited until it had more blossoms on it tried the app again, this time it came back as French Broom(top)….I still wanted it to be St. John’s Wort (bottom) so I plucked a few of the unopened blossoms and crushed them. If it was St. John’s Wort it would of left red stains on my fingers. It didn’t.

So the moral of the story is you need to be 100% positive about a plant’s Identification before using it. There are tons of medicinal plants that have look a likes that are deadly poison.

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[Dr. Patrick Jones]

I’ve been testing an app called PictureThis for a couple of years. It’s rarely wrong but once in a while it misses.

Close ups of the leaf and flower are a really good idea. Also, that app will show pictures of what it thinks it is. You can always tell the difference.

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

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