ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY. 61 



3. LECHEA, PINWEED. (For Leche, a Swedish botanist.) Small, 

 homely herbs, with inconspicuous greenish or purplish flowers, and pods 

 about the size of a pin's head, whence the popular frame : common in sterile 

 soil; fl. summer and autumn. 2/ 



L. major, LARGER P. Stem upright, hairy, l-2 high; leaves ellipti- 

 cal, mucronate ; flowers densely clustered. Borders of sterile woodlands. 



L. minor, SMALLER P. Stems low, 6'- 18' high, often straggling, minutely 

 hairy ; leaves linear ; flowers loosely racemed on the branches. Open sterile 

 ground. 



17. HYPERICACE.S1, ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY. 



Distinguished from all other of our plants by the opposite and 

 entire simple and chiefly sessile leaves, punctate with tran.-lucent 

 and commonly some blackish dots, perfect flowers with the stamens 

 (usually many and more or less in 3 or 5 clusters) inserted on the 

 receptacle, and a pod either 1 -eel led with parietal placentae or 3-5- 

 celled (see Lessons, p. 108, fig. 333, 335, 3oG), tilled with many 

 small seeds. Juice resinous and acrid. All here described are wild 

 plants of the country. 



* No ylands between the stamens. Petals convolute in the bud. 



1. ASCYRUM. Sepals 4; the outer pair very broad, the inner small and narrow. 



Petals 4, yellow. Stamens many. Ovary 1-celled. 



2. HYPEEICUM. Sepals and (yellow) petals 5. Stamens many, rarely few. 



* * Large yland between each of the 3 sets of stamens Petals imbricated in the bud. 



3. ELUDES. Sepals and erect flesh-colored. Petals 5. Stamens 9 to 12, united 



in 3 sets. Ovary 3-celled. Flowers axillary. 



1. ASCYRUM, ST. PETER'S-WORT. (Greek name means without 

 roughness, being smooth plants.) Leafy-stemmed, woody at the base, with 

 2-edged branches ; wild in pine barrens, &c., chiefly S. Fl. summer. 1}. 



* A pair ofbractlets on the pedicel : styles short. 



A. Crux-Andrese, ST. ANDREW'S CROSS. From New Jersey to Illinois 

 & S. ; stems spreading ; leaves thinnish, narrow-oblong and tapering to the base ; 

 flowers rather small, with narrow pale yellow petals and only 2 styles. 



A. Stans, COMMON ST. PETER'S-WORT. From New Jersey S. ; stems 

 2 - 3 high ; leaves thickish, closely sessile, oval .or oblong ; flowers larger, 

 with obovate petals and 3 or 4 styles. 



* * No bracelets on the pedicel : styles longer than ovary. 



A. amplexicatlle, CLASPING-LEAVED S. Only found S., with erect stems 

 many times forking above, and closely sessile heart-shaped leaves ; styles 3. 



2. HYPERICUM, ST. JOHN'S-WORT. (Ancient name, of uncertain 

 derivation.) Fl. in summer, in all ours yellow. 



* Shrubs or perennial herbs : stamens very many. 



Sti/les 5 (rarely more) united below into one . pod 5-celled. 



H. pyramidatum, GREAT-FL. S. Herb, 2 -4 high, with ovate-oblong 

 partly-clasping leaves, and large flowers, the petals rather na/row, 1' long, and 

 5 clusters of stamens. River-banks N & W. 



H. Kalmianum, KAL.M'S S. Low shrub, with glaucous oblanceolato 

 leaves and rather large flowers. N. W. : rare, except at Niagara Falls. 



*- -i- Styles 3 part/i/ united, or at first wholly umlu/ In the lop into one (see Lessons, 

 p. 107, fig. 329) : sepals It'iifi/, spnwling. 



** Shrubby, deciduous-leaved, both Northern and Southern. 



H. proliflcum, SHRUBBY S. Like the last, but leaves scarcely glaucous, 

 lance-oblong or linear ; pod 3-celled. 



