HYPERICINE.^— ST. JOHN'S WORT TRIBE 143 



Order XVIII. HYPERICINEiE— ST. JOHN'S WORT 



TRIBE. 



Sepals 4 or 5, not falling off, unequal, often fringed with black dots ; 

 petals of the same number as the sepals, sometimes unequal-sided, twisted 

 when in bud, often bordered with black dots ; stamens numerous, united at 

 the base into three or more sets ; ovary single ; styles 3 — 5 ; fruit, a capsule 

 or berry, composed of several valves and cells, the valves curved inwards; 

 seeds minute, numerous. This order consists of herbs or shrubs, most of 

 them having opposite leaves. Their flowers are chiefly yellow, and they 

 abound in a resinous juice, the greater number being glandular. Both leaves 

 and petals are generally dotted with black, are viscid, mostly bitter, and 

 slightly astringent. Some species are used as febrifuges, or as lotions ; and 

 one is reputed in Brazil to be an antidote against the bite of serpents. Many 

 afford a good yellow dye ; and one of the St. John's Worts is commonly 

 employed by dyers in Quito, to give that colour to wool. A few of the plants 

 of this order are tropical, but it consists chiefly of herbs, growing among 

 hedges and trees in the cooler parts of Europe and Asia. The genus Parnassia 

 is by many botanists included in this order, but its place is doubtful, and 

 some writers refer it to the Sazifragece. It differs from the St. John's Wort, 

 in not having opposite leaves, in its fewer stamens, as well as in various other 

 particulars. 



1. St. John's Wort (Hypericum). — Sepals 5; petals 5; stamens nume- 

 rous, filaments united at the base in 3 or 5 sets ; styles 3, or rarely 5 ; capsule 

 3-celled. Name from Hyperikon, the Greek name of the plant. 



2. Grass of Parnassus (Pamdssia). — Calyx deeply 5-cleft ; petals 5 ; 

 stamens 5, with fringed scales interposed ; stigmas 4 ; capsule 1 -celled, with 

 4 valves. Named from Mount Parnassus. 



1. St. John's Wort {HypMcum). 

 * Styles 5. 



1. Large-flowered St. John's Wort {H. calydnum). — Stems square, 

 branched, and single-flowered ; segments of the calyx unequal ; leaves oblong 

 and blunt. Plant perennial. This shrub is found apparently wild in some 

 bushy places, as at Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. Though growing also at 

 Cork without culture, it is probably there a naturalized plant, as it is doubt- , 

 less in many parts of the kingdom, having been long a common ornament of 

 gardens and shrubberies. It is generally about three or four feet in height, 

 bearing, from July to September, large handsome yellow flowers, with the 

 conspicuous bundles of numerous golden anthers, which, like the blossom of 

 all the species, have a strong odour of resin, especially when bruised. There 

 is often much redness on the leaves of this plant. 



* * Styles 3, sepals not fringed. 



2. Common Tutsan {H. androsmmum). — Stem 2 edged and shrubby ; 

 leaves egg-shaped, sessile ; sepals unequal ; capsule pulpy, and like a berry. 

 The only two counties of England in which this Tutsan is common are 

 Devon and Cornwall, though it occurs occasionally in others, and the author 

 has found it at Higham, in Kent. It is frequent in Ireland and the west 



