142 ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY 



1-2 in. long. Pinelands. Blooming chiefly in summer and 

 fall. Southern peninsula Fla. 



Waltheria ameiicana. Flowers yellow, tiny, in dense clus- 

 ters in leaf-axils. Stems spreading, shrubby, 1-4 ft. long. 

 Leaves alternate, ^/^-2 in. long, broadest at base, toothed. 

 Sandy soil. Blooming all the year. Southern Fla. 



ST. JOHN^S-WORT FAMILY (Hypericaceae) 



Flowers yellow, stamens many. Leaves opposite. Fruit a cap- 

 sule. 



St. Peter's- Wort (Genus Ascyrum) 



Low shrubby plants of this genus bloom all the year in 

 Florida, chiefly in damp soil, and are characterized by two- 

 edged branches and four-petaled yellow flowers, in which 

 the four sepals are in pairs of unequal size, the inner pair 

 being narrower and in some species much shorter than 

 the outer pair. 



Crookea microsepala, a shrub of northern Florida, re- 

 sembles the St. Peter's-worts in its four-petaled flowers, 

 but its sepals are nearly equal in size. 



Ascyrum tetrapetalum. Flowers yellow, about 1 in. across, 

 axillary and terminal. Shrubby, 1-3 ft. tall. Leaves broadest 

 at base, clasping stem, mostly about 1 in. long or less. Damp 

 sandy soil. Blooming all the year. Fla. and Ga. 



AscyTum hypericoides. St. Andrew's cross. Flowers about 

 % in. across. Leaves narrowed at base, not clasping. Sandy 

 soil. Blooming all the year. Fla. to Mass., Texas, and 111. 



St. John's-Worts (Genus Hypericum) 



St. John's-worts differ from St. Peter's-worts in having 

 flowers of five petals, instead of four. In Florida they 

 bloom more or less throughout the year , though their 

 season of most abundant flowering is during spring and 

 summer. They are found chiefly in low ground and in 

 shallow water, where the shrubby H. aspalathoideSj with 



