HYPERICACE^. (ST. JOHN's-WORT FAMILY.) 93 



Pod l-celled or 3 - 5-celled. Seeds usually cylindrical. — Herbs or shrubs, with 

 cymose yelluw tiowers. (An ancient Greek name, of obscure meaning.) 



§ 1. Stamens ver/j numerous, b-adelphous ; styles 5, united below, the stigmas 

 capitate ; pod 5-celled, the placentce turned far back into the cells ; peren- 

 nial herb ; Jiowers very large. 



1. H. Ascyron, L. (Great St. John's-wort.) Stems 2-5° higli ; 

 branches 2- 4-angled ; leaves (2-5' long) ovate-oblong, partly clasping; petals 

 narrowly obovate (T long), not deciduous until after they wither ; pod f long, 

 conical. (H. pyramidatum, Ait.) — Banks of rivers, New Eng. and Penn. to 

 Iowa and Minn. July. 



§ 2. Stamens very numerous, obscurely if at all clustered; styles 3 (n. 2 ex- 

 cepted), more or less united into one, the stigmas not capitate except in n. 10 

 sepals mostly foliaceous. 



* Bushy shrubs, 1-6° high, leafy to the top. 



•i- Styles 5 ; pod completely 5-celled. 



2. .H. Kalmianum, L. (Kalm's St. Johx's-wort.) Branches 4- 

 angled ; branchlets 2-edged ; leaves crowded, glaucous, linear to oblanceolate 

 (1-2' long); flowers few in a cluster (1' wide) ; pods ovate. — "Wet rocks, 

 Niagara Falls and northern lakes. Aug. 



■i- -i- Styles 3 ; pod completely ^-celled. 



3. H. proliflcum, L. (Shrubby St. John's-wort.) Branchlets 2- 

 edged; leaves narrowly oblong (1-2' long), mostly obtuse, narrowed at the 

 base ; flowers numerous, in single or compound clusters ; pods lanceolate to 

 ovate, 4-6" long. — N. J. to Mich., Minn., and southward. July -Sept. — 

 \'aries greatly in size, etc. 



4. H. densiflorum, Pursh. Exceedingly branched above, 1 - 6° high, 

 the branches slender and crowded with smaller leaves; flowers smaller (i-§ 

 in diameter) and more numerous, in crowded compound cymes; pod 2-3" 

 long. (H. proliflcum, var. densiflorum, Gray.) — Pine barrens of N.J. to 

 glades of Ky., Ark., and southward. 



* * Perennial herbs or a little woody at the base. 

 •t- Pod incompletely 3-4-celled. 



5. H. galioides, Lam. Slender, branching, woody below ; leaves linear' 

 oblanceolate, narrowed downward, §^-3' long, mostly acute; flowers small in 

 terminal and axillary cymes ; sepals very narrow, 1^-3" long; pud as long, 

 ovate. — Del. to Ga. and E. Tenn. 



6. H. adpressum, Barton. Stem simple, herbaceous, from a slightly 

 woody creeping base (1 - 2° high), obscurely 4-angled below and 2-edged abo-\ e ; 

 leaves ascending, lanceolate or linear-oldong, often acute, thin ; cyme terminal, 

 leafy at the base, few-flowered ; sepals linear-lanceolate , pods ovoid-oblong. — 

 Moist places, Nantucket and R. I. to Penn., and southwestward. July -Aug. 

 — Leaves l^ long. Petals bright yellow, 3- 5" long. 



-I- +- Pod \-celled with 3 ])arietal placenta. 



7. H. dolabriforme, \'ent. Stems branched from tlie decumbent base, 

 woody below (6 - 20' higli), terete ; leaves linear-lanceolate, widely spreading, 



