St. John's wort.

The color of St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum) is purple.

They've started to flower and I'll be picking them later this week, as I write this (about now, as you read this). That yellow flower (and particularly the flowerbud) gives a dark red color if crushed.

Photo: Hypericum perforatum 17.Pic: Red color from a yellow flower. And that color is a surefire way to make sure that yep, the plant under your fingers is a St. John's wort, one or the other Hypericum. And you can use them all -- all that give that color, that is.

I haven't been able to get purple fingers from the rather large flowers of various garden species.

And in rainy summers, after a few rainy days, all I get from flowers (or even flowerbuds) is water.

In autumn, around September or so, the color fades as well.

But even given all that: this is what started me on herbs, back when I was knee-high. Because if red fingers from crushing a bright yellow flower isn't magic, I don't know what is.

Our sun is certainly hot

Our sun is certainly hot enough for deserts right now, but I'm still doing the waterbath infusion.

Infused oil of SJW has been used to protect against the sun; I dimly remember that it might catch some of the UV. Dunno if there's any science behind that, though.