HYPERICINE^. 37 



''Shrubs. Stamens in five groups ; styles five . . . . b 

 ^ L Herbs. Ovary one-celled c 



b^ 



' Branches stiff ; leaves decussate ; styles slender longer 



than the ovary. (Common) . . . . H. mysorense. 



Branches drooping, the bush round-topped ; leaves 



I bifarious ; styles stout, shorter than the ovary , . 



[ (Rare) H. hookerianum. 



Bracts and sepals fringed with long-stalked glands ; seeds 



dotted, but not ribbed H. wightianum. 



c ^ Bracts and all parts devoid of stalked glands, but 

 fringed with small dots just inside the margin ; seeds 

 ribbed. H. japonicum. 



Hypericum mysorense Heyne, Wall Cat. 4808 ! ; F.B.L 

 i 253, II 2 ; common shrubby St. John's Wort. A shrub, 

 3 to 8 feet high ; twigs four-angled, green or reddish. 

 Leaves stiffly decussate, horizontal with tips curved 

 slightly upwards, narrow elliptic lanceolate, sessile, with 

 strong midrib. Flowers at the ends of the branches, 

 solitary or in threes, of a rich yellow colour, 3 to 4 inches 

 across, mostly facing upwards. Sepals lanceolate ^ inch 

 by 5-8 inch. Petals obovate-oblong, limp and fiat when 

 fully out and therefore widely separated, reddish on the 

 back of the parts exposed in bud. Stamens slender and 

 very numerous, in five bundles : anthers globular, 1/50 

 inch. Ovary five-celled, with five styles longer than 

 itself. Fruit a rich crimson colour, egg-shaped, pointed ; 

 surmounted by the five styles, t. 28. Wight Ic. t. 56. 



The commonest species and abundant everywhere on the 

 Nilgiri downs, more especially on soil, as near Kotagiri and 

 Pykara, where it covers whole hill-sides to the exclusion of 

 every other shrub. Fyson 3004. Bourne 3. 



Gen. Dist. On the hills generally of South India and Ceylon, but rare 

 in the Bombay Presidency and not reported from elsewhere in India. 



Hypericum hookerianum Wight and Arnott ; Herb. 

 Wight Prop! ; F.B.L i 254, II 6. A round-topped shrub 

 with weak spreading, not erect, branches. Leaves rather 

 flaccid ovate, set bifarious, i.e., in two rows all facing 



