HYPERICACE^. 57 



Woods. Can. to Car. W. to Miss. June. A tree often 60 or 70 feet high, 

 with yellowish-white flowers. The wood is white and soft, and much used by- 

 cabinet and coach-makers. The bark is grayish, and so strong and flexible as 

 to make tolerable ropes. Big. Basswood. Whitewood. 



2. T. laxijlora Mich. : leaves cordate, gradually acuminate, serrate, 

 membranaceous, smooth ; flowers in loose panicles ; petals emarginate ; 

 styles longer than the petals ; fruit globose. 



Near the sea coast. Penn. to Geor. May. Ir^ . — A very distinct species, 

 though generally confounded with the former. Pursk. 



Loose-flowered Linden. 



3. T. jnibescens Ait. : leaves truncate at the base, subcordate, oblique, 

 denticulate-serrate, pubescent beneath ; petals emarginate ; styles longer 

 than the petals ; fruit globose, smooth. T. Aviericana Walt. 



Banks of streams. Penn. to Geor. W. to Tenn. June.— A large tree. 

 Flowers white, in axillary cymes. Hairy-leaved Linden. 



Order XXIV. HYPERICACE^.— Tutsans. 



Sepals 4 — 5, distinct or cohering, unequal. Petals 4 — 5, 

 with a twisted aestivation and oblique veins. Stamens usually- 

 numerous and cohering at base in three or more parcels. Ovary- 

 single, superior ; styles several, rarely connate ; stigmas simple, 

 occasionally capitate. Fruit a capsule or berry, of many valves 

 and many cells. Seeds very numerous, minute, without albu- 

 men ; embryo straight. — Herbaceous plants or shrubs, with a 

 resinous juice, and dotted with pellucid or black glands. Leaves 

 opposite, entire, without stipules. Flowers mostly yellow. 



1. HYPERICUM. Linn.— St. John's Wort. 

 (A name of uncertain origin.) 

 Sepals 5, more or less united at the base, mostly equal. Pe- 

 tals 5, oblique, and often inequilateral. Stamens numerous, or 

 sometimes few, united at the base into 3 — 5 parcels, sometimes 

 distinct. Styles 3 — 5, distinct or more or less united. Capsule 

 membranaceous. 



* Stamens numerous. Styles 5. Flowers mostly terminal, large, yellow. 



1. H. 2>y'f(i'niidatum Ait.: smooth; stem square, somewhat branching 

 above ; leaves oblong-lanceolate, somewhat clasping, acute, membranaceous, 

 pellucid-punctate ; sepals ovate-lanceolate ; styles free, as long as the sta- 

 mens. H. macrocarpon Mich. H. ascyroides Willd. 



River banks. Can. to Penn. and Ohio. July. %-. — Stem 2 — 4 feet high, with 

 two of the angles strongest. Flowers few or solitary, at the ends of the branches, 

 more than an inch in diameter. Capsule ovoid-conical, as large as a nutmeg. 



Giant St. John's Wort. 



2. Kalmianiim WilUl. : frutescent, much branched ; branches square ; 



3* 



