HYPERICACEi*:. (ST. JoHN'.s-WOKT FAMILY.) 93 



Pod l-celled or 3-5-celled. Seeds usually ovliiidrical. — Herbs or shruhs, with 

 cymose yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name, of obscure meaning.) 



§ 1. Stamens veri/ numerous, 5-adclphous ; sti/les 5, united below, the stigmas 

 capitate ; pod ^x-clled, the placenta: turned far back into the cells ; peren- 

 nial herb; Jiowers very large. 



1. H. Ascyron, L. (Great St. Joiix's-wokt.) Stems 2-5° high; 

 branches 2 -4-anglcd; leaves (2-5' long) ovate-oblong, partly clasping; petals 

 narrowly obovate (T long), not deciduous until after they wither ; ])od J' long, 

 conical. (II. pyramidatum, Ait.) — Banks of rivers. New Eng. and Tenn. to 

 Iowa and Minn. July. 



§2. Sta7nens veri/ numerous, obscurely if at all clustered; styles 3 (n. 2 ex- 

 cepted), more or less united into one, the stigmas not capitate except in n. 10; 

 sepals mostly foliaceous. 



* Bushy shrubs, 1 -6° high, leafy to the top. 

 -*- Styles 5 ; pod completely 5-cellcd. 



2. H. Kalmiknum, L. (Kalm's St. John's-wort.) Branches 4- 

 angled; brauclilets 2-edge(l ; leaves crowded, glaucous, linear to oblanceolate 

 (1-2' long); flowers few in a cluster (1' wide) ; pods ovate. — Wet rocks, 

 Niagara Falls and northern lakes. Aug. 



■*- -t- Styles 3 ; pod completely ^-celled. 



3. H. prolificum, L. (SnRCBnY St. John's-wort.) Branchlets 2- 

 edged; leaves narrinvly oblong (1-2' long), mostly obtuse, narrowed at the 

 base; flowers numerous, in single or compound clusters; pods lance<date to 

 ovate, 4-6" long. — N. J. to Mich., Minn., and southward. July -Sept. — 

 Agarics greatly in size, etc. 



4. H. densifl6rum, Pur-sh. Exceedingly branched above, 1 - 6° high, 

 the branches slender and crowded with smaller leaves; flowers smaller (i- j' 

 in diameter) and more numerous, in crowded compound cymes; pod 2-3" 

 long. (H. prolificum, var. densiflorum, Cray.) — Pine barrens of N.J. to 

 glades of Ky., Ark., and southward. 



* * Perennial herbs or a litde woody at the base. 

 •*- Pod incompletely 3-4-celled. 



5. H. galioides, Lam. Slender, branching, woody below ; leaves I inear- 

 oblanceolate, narrowed downward, ^-3' long, mostly acute; flowers small in 



^terminal and axillary cymes ; sepals very narrow, 1^-3" long ; pod as long, 

 ovate. — Del. to Ga. and E. Tenn. 



6. H. adpressum, Barton. Stem simple, herbaceous, from a slightly 

 woody creeping ha.^^e (1-2° high), obscurely 4-angk'd below and 2-e(lged abt)ve ; 

 leaves ascending, lanceolate or linear-ol)long, often acute, thin; cyme terminal, 

 leafy at the base, few-flowered; sepals linear-lanceolate, pods ovoidH)lilong. — 

 Moist places, Nantucket and P. I. to Penn., and soutinvestward. July -Aug. 

 — Leaves 1^' long. Petals bright yellow, 3-5" long. 



-t- ■*- Pod l-celled with 3 parietal placetit(r. 



7. H. dolabrifdrme, Vent. Stems branched from tlie decumbent base, 

 woody below (6 - 20' high), terete ; leaves lincar-ianceolate, widely spreading, 



