''Hypericum virginicum'' (''Triadenum virginicum''), the marsh St. Johns-wort or Virginia marsh St. Johnswort, is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the family

Hypericaceae Hypericaceae is a plant family in the order Malpighiales, comprising six to nine genera and up to 700 species, and commonly known as the St. John's wort family. Members are found throughout the world apart from extremely cold or dry habitats. '' ...

. It is native to the central and eastern United States and eastern Canada. ''Hypericum virginicum'' is a small herbaceous plant growing up to in height. Its leaves are sessile and opposite, sometimes clasping. The flowers grow up to in diameter, with 5 pink petals. It flowers in the summer to early fall and grows in bogs, wet meadows,

fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetlands along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires. T ...

s, swamps, and along lakeshores. It can be distinguished from the closely related '' Hypericum fraseri'' by its longer, acute sepals, and longer styles.

Alexander Garden Alexander Gardens (russian: Александровский сад) was one of the first urban public parks in Moscow, Russia. The park comprises three separate gardens, which stretch along all the length of the western Kremlin wall for between ...

first observed this plant in 1754, but following correspondence with

Jane Colden Jane Colden (March 27, 1724 – March 10, 1766) was an American botanist,Makers of American Botany, Harry Baker Humphrey, Ronald Press Company, Library of Congress Card Number 61-18435 described as the "first botanist of her sex in her country" ...

realized that she had previously collected and recorded the same species in 1753, one year before his discovery. As such, Jane Colden held naming rights for what both naturalists thought would be a newly described genus. Colden generously offered to name it ''Gardenia'' in Garden's honor, however this was later rejected by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

when John Ellis also proposed naming the cape jasmine ''Gardenia'' ''jasminoides'' in Garden's honor. As cape jasmine had been collected earlier (at least by 1680) it received priority in naming. In the end it was originally described as ''Hypericum virginicum'' by Linnaeus in 1759. In 1837

Rafinesque Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz (; October 22, 1783September 18, 1840) was a French 19th-century polymath born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He traveled as a young man in the United States, ultimat ...

proposed placing it a new genus, ''Triadenum'', acknowledging, perhaps unknowingly, Jane Colden's original belief that ''Hypericum virginicum'' was sufficiently unique to warrant its own genus. Members of the genus ''Triadenum'' have white to pink petals, always 9 stamens, and three staminodal glands alternating between the stamen fascicles.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17847395 virginicum Plants described in 1759 Flora of North America