SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 213 



(62) Erodium. 



E. cicutarium : annual ; forming a dense hairy tuft, the 

 stems short, or sometimes ^-1 foot long ; leaves mostly radical, 

 on long stalks, pinnate, the leaflets deeply pinnatifid, with 

 narrow more or less cut lobes ; peduncles erect, bearing an 

 umbel of 10-12 small purple or pink flowers; carpels slightly 

 hairy. — Waste and cultivated lands. Fl. June to September. 



E. moschatum is a larger and coarser plant, with a strong 

 smell of musk ; it has ovate leaflets, and umbels of numerous 

 bluish-purple flowers, and is found in sandy, waste places, 

 especially near the sea. 



E. maritimum is distinguished by having simple, toothed, 

 not pinnate leaves, and 1-2-flowered peduncles ; the flowers 

 reddish-purple ; it grows in maritime sands. 



(63) Hypericum. St. John's-wort. 



* Stamens pentadelplious, i.e. in five groups or clusters. 



H. Androssemum : undershrub ; stems numerous, erect, 1 h- 

 2 feet high, simple or slightly branched ; leaves sessile, ovate, 

 obtuse, cordate at the base, glabrous, with minute pellucid 

 dots ; flowers few, in small corymbs, yellow, the petals scarcely 

 longer than the sepals ; stamens numerous, connected at the 

 very base into five clusters; styles three; capsule globular, 

 slightly succulent before it is ripe. — Tutsan. — Open woods. 

 Fl. July, August. 



** Stamens triadelphous, i.e. m three groups or clusters. 

 f Stems erect. 

 X Sepals entire. 



H. perforatum : stems 1-1 i feet high, branching above, 

 cylindrical or with two slightly prominent opposite angles, 



