90 



HYPERICINEiE 



Ord. XVI. Hypericine.^. — ^The St. John's-wort Family 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with opposite, exstipulate, simple leaves, 

 generally dotted with pellucid glands, and conspicuous yellow 

 polysym metric flowers, generally in cymes ; sepals 5, rarely 4, 

 imbricate ; petals of the same number as the sepals, twisted when 

 in bud ; sta??iens 3 or 5, much branched near the base and known 

 as polyadelphous ; carpels 3 — 5, syncarpous ; styles 3 — 5 ; fruit a 

 capsule or nuculane, 3 — 5-chambered and valved, the valves 

 curved inwards ; seeds numerous, minute. Most of the species 

 are aromatic and resinous, and some contain a yellow juice, which 

 has purgative, astringent, and tonic properties. They occur in 

 most parts of the world, the only British genus being that which 

 gives the Order its name, Hypericum. 



I. Hypericum (St. John's-wort). — Leaves SQSsWe ; flowers in 

 cymes ; sepals 5 ; petals 5, usually very oblique ; stamens 3 or 5, 

 much branched ; styles 3, rarely 5 ; f7'uit 3 or 5-chambered. 

 (Name from the Greek hpereikon, Pliny also using hypericum^ 

 though usage has made it hypericum.) 



* Shrubs: sepals unequal : petals deciduous: stamens 5, 

 brand, ^d at the base 



I. Z^ ^;z^/'C'5^;;/z^//z (Tutsan).— A handsome, shrubby, glabrous 

 plant, 2 — 3 feet high ; ste7n compressed ; leaves large, ovate, with 

 a strong resinous smell, which they retain for some time after 

 drying ; flowers | in. across, in conspicuous cymes ; petals very 

 oblique ; styles 3, recurved ; fruit ^o?>sy, black, berry-like. — Woods 

 and hedges ; not common, except in Devon and Cornwall. — Fl. 

 June — August. Perennial. 



2."^ H. hircinum, a taller, more-branched shrub, with flowers 

 i\ in. across and narrow, acute, deciduous sepals, occurs in 

 shrubberies, but is not indigenous. — Fl. July — September. 

 Perennial. 



3.^ H. eldtum, a closely allied species with a 2 edged ste^n and 

 Vi'mgtd peduncle, occurs under similar circumstances. 



4.''^ H. calycinu?n (Large-flowered St. John's-wort, Park-leaves). 

 — A low glabrous shrub, about a foot high ; stem square ; leaves 

 2 — 4 in. long ; oblong, blunt, leathery ; flowers solitary, terminal, 

 3 — 4 in across, very handsome ; styles 5. — Common in gardens 

 and shrubberies, and naturalised in several places. — Fl. July — = 

 September. Perennial. 



