Tas. 8773. 
HYPERICUM Lagve, forma RUBRA. 
Orient. 
Hypericacear. Tribe Hypericnae. 
Hypericum, Linn.; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. i. p. 165. 
Hypericum laeve, Boiss. et Hausskn. in Boiss. Fl. Orient. 3, 197 (8. rubrum) ; 
affine H. scabro, Linn., caulibus ramisque laevibus et foliis anguste 
linearibus distinctum. 
Herba perennis, multicaulis, 3-6 dm. alta; caules teretes, virgati, laeves, 
glabri, ex axillis ramulosi. Folia linearia vel in caulibus robustioribus 
lineari-oblonga, obtusa, plerumque secundum margines revoluta (praecipue 
ea ramulorum), pellucido-punctata, 1-1°5 (raro ad 3 \cm.) longa, 2 (raro 
fere 5) mm. lata, ea ramulorum ob margines arcte revolutis saepe 1 mm. 
vix latiora. Panicula breviter ovoidea, subcorymbosa, densa, rarius 
elongata et laxior, bracteis ovato-oblongis vel oblongis nigro-glandulosis. 
Sepala elliptico- vel ovato-oblonga, obtusiuscula, glanduloso-crenulata 
glandulis nigris, 2-2°5 mm. longa. Petala patula, elliptica vel oblongo- 
elliptica, basi subunguiculata, superne nigro-glanduloso-fimbriatula, 
5-7 mm. longa, rubro-aurea vel scarlatino-rubra. Filamenta stylique 
rubella.—H. rubrum, Hochst. in Lorent, Wander. Orient, p. 843.— 
-Q. Starr. © : 
The graceful St. John’s Wort here delineated was first 
discovered by Kotschy in 1841 near Diarbekir. Since 
then the species has been met with by Lorent, Hauss- 
knecht and others in the Orient, where it inhabits a 
somewhat limited area which extends from Aintab and 
Nisib in Northern Syria to Kharput and Diarbekir in 
Kurdistan. Within this area it is said to grow chiefly 
on calcareous soil. The colour of its flower varies, 
sometimes in the same locality, from rich yellow to pure 
red or nearly scarlet. Haussknecht, who collected both 
colour-forms at Aintab and Nisib, was inclined to attri- 
bute the colour of the red form, which we now figure, to 
the ferruginous nature of the loam in which he found it 
growing, though when describing the yellow form as 
Hypericum laeve, he and Boissier nevertheless accorded 
the red one the status of a variety, while Hochstetter 
treated specimens of the red flowered plant, collected by 
JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1918. 
