14'0 ENGLISH BOTANY. 



Professor Babington doubts if the plant intended by Dr. Arnott 

 be the same as his 31. anglicum ; but in any case the " English 

 Botany " plant is doubtless 11. elatum. 



Tall St. John's Wort. 



SPECIES III.— H YPERICUM HIRCINUM. Linn. 



Plate CCLXVI. 

 Androssemum fcetidum, Spach. Suites a Buffon, Vol. V. p. 419. 



Stem shrubby, branched, with the branches quadrangular. 

 Leaves sessile, lanceolate, sub-cordate at the base, acute at the 

 apex. Cymes terminal, few-flowered. Sepals unequal, lanceolate 

 or oblong-lanceolate, very acute, deciduous after flowering. Petals 

 much longer than the sepals. Stamens in 5 bundles, longer than 

 the petals. Ovary ovoid. Styles 3, nearly straight, much longer 

 than the ovary, but falling short of the stamens. Pruit obovate- 

 ovoid, slightly fleshy before maturity, at length ojiening by 3 valves 

 at the apex, crowned by 3 nearly straight or slightly hooked styles, 

 which are longer than the fruit. 



In thickets and woods, but only where it has been planted. 

 The drawing made for " English Botany," which is now publislied 

 for the first time, was made from a plant growing in llaughley 

 woods, Norfolk, the locality where II. elatum was found. I have 

 it also from Liverpool, Cork, Kent, and several other places. 



[England, Ireland]. Shrub. Summer. 



This plant is so frequently confounded with H. elatum, that it 

 has been considered better to figure and describe it, although there 

 is no doubt that it has been planted in all the localities in which it 

 occurs. It forms a bush 1 to 4 feet high, with very numerous 

 branches. The leaves are generally about 2 inches long, and very 

 acute at the apex. The floAvers are 1^ to 1\ inch across, with the 

 stamens considerably longer than in H. elatum, and the germen 

 and fruit taper less towards the point ; and the small narrow 

 acute sepals usiially, though not always, drop off before the fruit 

 is mature. The smell of the bruised plant is extremely unpleasant, 

 resembling that of a goat, while in the preceding species the odour 

 is rather agreeable and aromatic. 



Slinking St. John's Wort. 

 French, MiUepei'tuis Sousligneux. 



