50 HYPEUICACE^E. (ST. JOHN's-WORT FAMILY) 



-::. EI. S^aSiasiienuin, L. Bushy, l°-3° high; branches t-angled : 

 branchlets 2-edged ; leaves crowded, glaucous, oblanceolate ; flowers few in a 

 cluster ; pods ovate 5-celled. — Wet rocks, Niagara Falls and Northern lakes. 

 A ug. — Leaves 1 ' - 2 ' long. Flowers 1 ' wide. 



3. II. pB'©2siSictiBSl, L. (Shrubby St. John's-wort.) Branchlets 2- 

 edged ; leaves lanceolate-oblong, mostly obtuse, narrowed at the base ; flowers 

 numerous, in simple or compound clusters; pods oblong, 3-cdled. — New Jersey 

 to Michigan, Illinois, and southward. July - Sept. — Shrub l°-4° high, with 

 long rather simple shoots, leaves 2' long and £' or more wide, and flowers |' - 1 

 in diameter. Varies greatly in size, &c. 



Var. desiSiiSdrtain. Exceedingly branched above, l°-6° high, the 

 branches slender and crowded with smaller leaves; flowers smaller (J'- fin 

 diameter) and more numerous, in crowded compound cymes. (H. densiflorurn, 

 & H. galioides, Pursh.) — Pine barrens of New Jersey, and glades of Western 

 Maryland, Kentucky, and southward. 



-x- # Perennial herbs: styles (diverging) and cells of the pod 3: petals and anthers 

 with black dots : calyx erect : stamens distinctly in 3 or 5 clusters. 



4. II. perforatum, L. (Common St. John's-wort.) Stem much 

 branched and corymbed, somewhat 2-edged (producing runners from the base) ; 

 leaves elliptical-oblong or linear-oblong, with pellucid dots ; petals (deep yellow) 

 twice the length of the lanceolate acute sepals ; flowers numerous, in open leafy 

 cymes. — Pastures and meadows, &c. June - Sept. — Too well known every- 

 where as a pernicious weed, which it is difficult to extirpate. Its juices are very 

 acrid. (Nat. from Eu.) 



5. II. COrymbosuni, Mulil. Conspicuously marked with both black 

 and pellucid dots; stem terete, sparingly branched; leaves oblong, somewhat 

 clasping ; flowers crowded (small); petals pale yellow, much longer than the 

 oblong sepals. — Damp places; common. July- Sept. — Leaves larger and 

 flowers much smaller than in No. 4; the petals 2" -3" long, marked with black 

 lines as well as dots. 



$ 3. Stamens very numerous, obscurely clustered : pod l-celled, or incompletely 3-celled, 



the 3 placenta sometimes borne on short partitions, but not joined in the centre: 



perennial herbs or loio shrubs. 



* Sepals foliaceous and spreading, unequal : styles more or less united into one. 



G. H. ellipticum, Hook. Stem simple, herbaceous (1° high), obscure- 

 ly t-angled; leaves spreading, elliptical-oblong, obtuse, thin; cyme nearly naked, 

 rather few-flowered; sepals oblong ; pods ovoid, very obtuse, purple, l-celled.— 

 Wet places, New England and Pennsylvania to Lake Superior and northward 

 July, Aug. — Petals light yellow, 3" long. 



7. II. a<lpr£ssum, Barton. Stem simple, herbaceous, or slightly woody 

 at the base (1° -2° high), obscurely 4-angled below and 2-edged above; leaves 

 ascending, lanceolate or linear-oblong, often acute, thin ; cyme leafy at the base, 

 few-flowered; sepals linear-lanceolate; pods ovoid-oblong, incompletely 3 - 4-cellea. — 

 Moist places, Rhode Island (Olney), New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and southwest- 

 ward. July, Aug. —Leaves l£-' long. Petals bright yellow, 3" - 5" long. 



