152 THE STORY OF PLANT LIFE 



The seeds are dispersed b}^ the wind. Several of 

 these plants are favourite garden flowers, as Tutsan, 

 Rose of Sharon, etc. 



A large number have aromatic or resinous pro- 

 perties. A yellow' resinous juice used in medicine is 

 yielded by some of the plants. The Hypericacese 

 have astringent, tonic, and other properties, but the 

 fabulous remedies, such as the healing of wounds, 

 etc. (hence Tutsan, or tout saine), are no longer treated 

 seriously, being based, as a large number of the so- 

 called medicinal properties, upon the doctrine of 

 signatures, a principle which has not rendered 

 medicine any service, and rather tended towards the 

 present state of stagnation, so far as medicinal herbs 

 are concerned. 



Hairy St. John's Wort {Hypericum hirsutum). 



Like other St. John's Worts this species is a pretty 

 wild flower, with golden blooms, not quite so brilliant 

 as those of the Perforate St. John's Wort, nor tinged 

 with red as in the Pretty St. John's Wort, but 

 numerous, and giving a charming effect. 



This species is a common one throughout the 

 British Isles, easily distinguished by its very hairy 

 stem and leaves and the duller green colour. It is 

 found in all parts of England and Wales, Scotland 

 and Ireland, but is rare in the last, and ascends to 

 1300 ft. in Yorkshire. 



Hairy St. John's Wort is found in woods and 

 copses, in damp oak woods, on clays and loams. It 



