Essential Oil Education

St. John’s Wort or Hypericum perforatum, is an infused oil meaning the flowers are gathered at a certain time of the year and placed in a carrier oil until the essential essence of the plant oozes out into that carrier oil. This is a plant of many faces. Some regard it as a wildflower, others a weed or at best an herb. It has actually been described as a healthful plant by herbalists since the earliest Greek herbals. It has a long history of use including being used as a diuretic, a wound healing herb, a great treatment for menstrual disorders and for allaying the pain of contusions. 

In the Middle Ages, harvesting herbs meant collecting the herb on a specific day, often a day with religious significance. This simply may have been a way of marking the best time of year to harvest a particular herb. In this case, St John’s wort, as you may guess, was harvested on St. John’s day which is June 24th. When the fresh flowers of this plant are crushed, they exude a blood-red juice, which stains the figers blue-violet.

Today St. John’s wort oil is used for bruises, is anti-inflammatory, and is often used to help speed healing of wounds and sores. It helps to reduce inflammation and can be applied to sprains, burns, skin irritations, or any laceration accomplanied by severed nerve tissue.  It was once known to pharmacists as “red oil’ or “Hypericum liniment.” The practice of soaking the flowers in olive oil, infusing the oil in the sun, then using the oil internally as a diuretic and external application for wounds dates at least to the 1500’s.

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