144 HYPERICINE^ 



of Scotland. It is a handsome shrub, very strongly scented, and the leaves, 

 as well as the glossy, berry-like capsule, much tinted with red in autumn. 

 The flowers are numerous and showy, of bright golden yellow, expanding in 

 July. This species is about two or three feet high, and is often called Park- 

 leaves. It was once much esteemed as a vulnerary, and its leaves laid on 

 wounds. Its common English name is a corruption of Tout-saine, All-heal. 



3. Square-stalked St. John's Wort (H. quadrdngulum).- — Stem 

 herbaceous, erect, with four somewhat winged angles, branched; leaves 

 oblong, egg-shaped, with pellucid dots; sepals erect, lanceolate. Plant 

 perennial. This species grows commonly in damp places, having stems one 

 or two feet high, and flat panicles of yellow flowers. It blossoms in July 

 and August. 



4. Perforated St. John's Wort {H. perforatum). — Stem herbaceous, 

 erect, 2-edged ; leaves elliptic-oblong, copiously perforated with pellucid dots ; 

 sepals erect, lanceolate acute. Plant perennial. During the months of July 

 and August, and often as late as the end of September, the golden blossoms 

 of this plant are commonly seen in woods and hedges, on grassy banks, or in 

 shady lanes. Several of the species are blooming at the same season, and 

 their general aspect is very similar, but this is the most noticeable kind, and 

 is well distinguished by the marked character of its two-edged stems. A 

 lovely plant it is, with its wealth of golden flowers growing on a branched 

 stem one or two feet high, and having its yellow petals profusely dotted with 

 black. The leaves are strongly ribbed, and of delicate green, reddening 

 somewhat with age, and full of clear dots, easily seen if we hold the leaf up 

 to the light. The flowers have a sweet scent of lemon, mixed with resin, 

 and if we grasp them, they leave a yellow stain on our fingers. They will 

 tinge spirits and oil of a rich purple colour, and if dried and boiled with 

 alum, they dye wool of a fine yellow hue. Those pellucid dots in the foliage 

 are full of an essential oil, which, indeed, pervades the whole plant, which is 

 aromatic and astringent. The flowers are made into gargles, lotions and 

 salves; and some good botanists recommend that further trial should be 

 made of their remedial powers. The author has much faith in the efficacy 

 of ointment made from St. John's Wort, and could go willingly now, as she 

 did in the days of childhood, over dale and hill, to bear away a basketful of 

 its blossoms for domestic use. The plants, when gathered, were put into a 

 large vessel of water, forming thus a magnificent nosegay, and the flowers 

 being picked ofi" the stems daily, as they expanded, were finally made into a 

 salve, which served well to heal the scratches or more serious wounds made 

 during rambles among bush and briar, and which certainly healed them 

 quickly and surely. This St. John's Wort salve is still much used in villages 

 in Kent, and, probably, also in other counties, for it is a very old remedy. 

 Dioscorides and Pliny spoke its praises, as did Gerarde, Dodonseus, Culpepper, 

 and all our old English herbalists. The latter commends it as a marvellous 

 cure for various disorders, and says, in the quaint manner of these old writers, 

 " It may be, if yovi meet a Papist, he will tell you, especially if he be a 

 lawyer, that St. John made it over to him by a letter of attorney." "It is," 

 he adds, "a singular wound herb;" and after praising leaves, flowers, and 

 roots, for various uses, he says, " The seed, too, is much commended, being 



