Hypericum] HYPERICINEE (Sond.) : 117 
bracteate ; calyx 5-parted, sepals acuminate, with scarious margins ; petals 
shorter than the sepals, ovate, acute. Sond. 1. c. Lancretia humifusa, Pl. 
in Herb. Hook, 
Has. Rhinosterkopf, by the Vaal River and Sand River Hills, Burke and Zeyher? 
540. (Herb, Hook., Sond.). 
A small annual, with many short, decumbent stems, spreading from the crown. 
Stems 1-2 inches long. Leaves } inch long, 2-3 lines wide, the lowermost larger, 
the upper gradually dwindling into bracts. Stipules a line long, those of the lower 
leaves entire, of the upper serrate or ciliate. Petals pale rose coloured. Sond. J. c. 
Orver XVI. HYPERICINEA, Chois. 
(By W. SonvEr.) 
(Hyperica, Juss. Gen. 254. Hypericinex, Chois. DC, Prod. 1. p. 541. 
Endl. Gen. No. 218. Hypericacex, Lindl. Veg. Kingd. No. 146.). 
Flowers regular. Sepals 5, rarely 4, united at base, persistent, strongly 
imbricate, two external to the others. Petals alternate with the sepals, 
unequal-sided, spirally twisted in estivation, bordered with black dots! 
Stamens mostly indefinite, polyadelphous ; filaments united in 3-5 
parcels, filiform ; anthers 2-celled. Ovary free, unilocular, or imper- 
fectly 3—5-locular, with numerous ovules ; styles 3-5, separate or con- 
nate at base. Frwit a dry or fleshy capsule, uni- or pluri-locular ; seeds 
exalbuminous. 
Trees, shrubs or herbs, with resinous juices ; opposite or whorled, often quadran- 
gular branches, and opposite, very entire, pellucidly-dotted, penninerved, simple, 
exstipulate leaves. Flowers terminal or axillary, in cymes or panicles, yellow, rarely 
red or white, showy, but not fragrant. 
Dispersed throughout the tropics and temperate zones of both hemispheres, but 
much more abundant in the northern temperate zone. About 300 species are known. 
This family may be considered as the representative, in temperate climates, of the 
tropical order GuTTIFERZ—whose gummy properties are possessed by its species in 
a weak degree. None are of much value, but many are cultivated for ornament. 
In the earlier medicine their repute as febrifuges and vulneraries was greater, and 
the Hypericum itself was dedicated to S. John. te 
Calyx 5-parted, the sepals equal, or the two outer largest, imbricate. 
Petals 5, hypogynous, twisted-imbricate in estivation. Stamens nume- 
rous, polyadelphous, in 3-5 parcels. Ovary sessile, unilocular, or im- 
perfectly 3—-5-locular, with many-ovuled, parietal placenta. Capsule 
dry and dehiscent, (or rarely fleshy and indehiscent). Seeds numerous, 
very rarely definite or solitary. DC. Prod. 1.p. 543. Endl. Gen. 5464. 
Shrubs, under-shrubs, or herbs diffused throughout the temperate and subtropical 
zones of both hemispheres, but rosige tee ondane in poo pees ooo sro south- 
hemis phere. Leaves 0 er ] or e or am vi : 
canes or serrulate, very i pellucid-dotted, exstipulate. Veins sells 
cymose or panicled, the petals margined with black dots. These plants were called _ 
dxnpicov, by Dioscorides. 
1. H. aethiopicum (Thunb. Cap. p. 439.) ; glabrous ; stem herbace- 
ous, erect, or sor ages base, terete ; leaves ovate, obtuse at base, 
sessile, subamplexicaul, pellucid-dotted, with a revolute margin ; pa 
