92 ELATINACE.E. (WATER- WORT FAMILY.) 



etc., N. H. to 111., Va., and southwestward. Pod very thin and delicate ; the 

 seeds large in proportion, straightish. 



2. E. triandra, Schkuhr. Leaves oblanceolate or nearly lanceolate ; 

 petals and stamens commonly 3 ; seeds more slender, covering the axis 

 Ponds, ID., Neb., and westward. (Eu.) 



3. E. brachysperma, Gray. Leaves oblong or oval with narrowed 

 base ; flowers mostly dimerous ; seeds short-oblong, with 6 or 7 longitudinal 

 lines and 10-12 crossbars. 111. and southwestward. 



ORDER 18. HYPERICACEJE. (ST. JOHX'S-WORT FAMILY.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with opposite entire dotted leaves and no stipules, regular 

 hypoqynous flowers, the petals most!// oblique and convolute in the bud, and 

 many or few stamens commonly collected in 3 or more clusters or bundles. 

 Pod \-celled with 2-5 parietal placenta, and as many styles, or 3-7-ct\led 

 by the union of the placentce in the centre; dehiscence mostly septicidal. 

 Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 4 or 

 5, mostly deciduous. Styles persistent, at first sometimes united. Seeds 

 numerous, small, anatropous, with no albumen. Embryo cylindrical. 

 Plants with a resinous juice, dotted with pellucid or dark glands, usually 

 smooth. Leaves mostly sessile. Flowers solitary or cymose. 

 Petals oblique, convolute, yellow ; hypogynous glands none. 



1. Ascyrum. Sepals 4, in 2 very unequal pairs. Petals 4. Stamens many, distinct. 



2. Hypericum. Segals 5, alike. Petals 5. St.imi'ns usually many and in 3 or 5 clusters. 



* Petals equal, imbricate, purplish; glands alternating wit.li thr 3 stamen-clusters. 

 8. Elotles. Sepals and petals 5. Stamens usually 9. Ovary 3-ccllnl. 



1. ASCYRUM, L. ST. PETEE'S-WORT. 



Sepals 4 ; the two outer MTV broad and leaf-like ; the inner much smaller. 

 Petals 4, oblique, very deciduous, con volute in the bud. Stamens numerous; 

 the filaments distinct and scnm-lv in clusters. Pod strictly 1 -celled, 2-4- 

 valvecl. Low, rather shrubby, smooth plants, with pale black-dotted leaves, 

 and nearly solitary light yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name of some 

 plant, from a-, wit/mitt, and vxvpos, roughness.) 



1. A. Stans, Michx. (ST. PKTKR'S-WORT.) Stem rather simple, 2-edged, 

 1-2 high, stout; leaves oral or oblnnrj, somewhat clasping, thickish; flowers 

 showy; outer sepals round-cordate, inner lanceolate; petals olovate ; styles 3 

 or 4. Pine barrens, Long Island to Penn., and southward. July, Aug. 



2. A. Crux-Andrese, L. (Sr. ANDREW'S CROSS.) Low, much 

 branched and decumbent; leaves narrowly obovate-oblong, contracted at the 

 base, thin ; petals linear-oblonrj ; styles 2, very short ; pod flat. Nantucket ; 

 pine barrens of N. J. to S. 111., Xeb., and southward. July -Sept. Petals 

 scarcely exceeding the outer sepals, approaching each other in pairs over 

 them, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. 



2. HYPERICUM, Tourn. ST. JOHN'S-WORT. 



Sepals 5. somewhat equal. Petals 5, oblique, convolute in the bud Sta- 

 commonly united or clustered in 3-5 parcels; no interposed glands. 



