John's eve, to avert the evil eye and
the spells of the spirits of darkness. "Devil chaser" its Italian
name signifies. To cure demoniacs, to ward off destruction by
lightning, to reveal the presence of witches, and to expose their
nefarious practices, are some of the virtues ascribed to this
plant, which superstitious farmers have spared from the scythe
and encouraged to grow near their houses until it has become,
even in this land of liberty, a troublesome weed at times. "The
flower gets its name," says F. Schuyler Mathews, "from the
superstition that on St. John's day, the 24th of June, the dew
which fell on the plant the evening before was efficacious in
preserving the eyes from disease. So the plant was collected,
dipped in oil, and thus transformed into a balm for every wound."
Here it is a naturalized, not a native, immigrant. A blooming
plant, usually with many sterile shoots about its base, has an
unkempt, untidy look; the seed capsules and the brown petals of
withered flowers remaining among the bright yellow buds through a
long season.
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