Word: perforatum
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When you squeeze the bright star-shaped yellow buds of the hardy perennial Hypericum perforatum, they yield a red juice that reminded medieval Europeans of the blood of John the Baptist. Valued for its magical healing powers, St. John's wort (a Middle English word for "plant"), as the shrub is commonly called, has been used since the time of ancient Greece for treating any number of ailments, from liver and bowel disorders to hysteria, obesity and insomnia...
...folk remedy? You bet. But St. John's wort--or Hypericum perforatum, as scientists call it--is not just another weed. It has attracted a huge following in Europe, and is now catching on in the U.S. According to Dr. Harold Bloomfield, author of Hypericum & Depression (Prelude Press; $7.95), this pretty yellow-flowered plant is nature's own antidepressant--almost as potent as the prescription drug Prozac but without Prozac's troubling side effects. St. John's wort may not work for everyone, acknowledges Bloomfield, a psychiatrist in Del Mar, Calif. "But to those for whom it does work...
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