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 name : common in sterile 

 soil; fl. summer and autumn. Jl 



L. m^jor, 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^, ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY. 



Distinguished from all other of our plants by the opposite and 

 entire simple and chiefly sessile leaves, punctate with translucent 

 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-celled with parietal placenta? or 3-5- 

 celled (see Lessons, p. 120, fig. 260, 262, 263), filled with many 

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

 plants of the country. 



* No glands between the stamens. Petals convolale 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. HYPERICUM. Sepals and (yellow) petals 5. Stamens many, rarely few. 



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



3. ELODES. Sepals and erect fiesh-colored. Petals 5. Stamens 9 to 12, united 



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



1. ASCYRUM, ST. PETER'S-WOET. (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. ^ 



* A pair of bractlets on the pedicel : styles short. 



A. Crux-Andl'ese, 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 bractlets 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 uncertam 

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



* Shrubs or perennial herbs : stamens very mam/. 



-1- Styles 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 narrow, 1' long, and 

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



H. Kalmicinum, Kalm's S. Low shrub, with glaucous oblanceolate 

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



■t- -f- Styles 3 partly united, or atjirst wholly united to the top into one (see Lessons, 

 ]). 118, fig. 250) : sepals leafy, spreading. 

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



H. prollficum, Shrubby S. Like the last, but leaves scarcely glaucous, 

 lance-oblong or linear ; pod 3-celled. 



