HYP 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



HYP 



729 



23. Hypericum Elatum ; Tall St. John's Wort. Calices 

 lanceolate-ovate, acute; stamina longer than the corolla; 

 leaves ovate-oblong ; stem shrubby : it flowers in July 

 and August. Native of North America. See the preceding 

 species. 



24. Hypericum Hircinum ; Stinking Shrubby St. John's 

 Wort. Stamina longer than the corolla ; stem shrubby, an- 

 cipital. It rises with shrubby stalks about three feet high : 

 flowers in terminating bunches ; petals oval. It flowers from 

 July to September. Native of the south of Europe. See 

 the twenty-second species. 



25. Hypericum .Sgyptiacum ; Egyptian St. John's Wort. 

 Nectaries of the petals lanceolate ; stems suffruticose, com- 

 pressed. A low branched shrub, with leaves like those of 

 Knot-grass, ovate, very small, acuminate, veinless, sessile, 

 longer than the joints of the branches ; flowers commonly in 

 pairs, on the branchlets. Native of Egypt. 



26. Hypericum Orientale; Oriental St. John's Wort. 

 Stipules reflex ; leaves oblong, toothletted, crenate. Roots 

 in old plants hard, woody, and more than half a foot in 

 length ; in young plants a tuft of yellowish fibres three or 

 four inches long ; stems from six inches to a foot in height, 

 some upright, others ascending, pale green, a line in thick- 

 ness, with a small wing descending from one leaf to another. 

 The whole plant has a resinous smell. It varies much in 

 size, as does also the flower, the petals being sometimes ten 

 lines in length. The leaves are bitter, and a little viscid. 

 Native of the Levant. 



27. Hypericum Scabrum; Rugged St. John's Wort. Stem 

 round, suffruticose, muricated ; leaves oblong. Flowers 

 small, in terminating corymbs. Native of Arabia, &c. 



28. Hypericum Repens ; Creeping St. John's Wort. Stem 

 round, creeping ; leaves lanceolate-linear, obtuse. Root 

 perennial ; flowers terminating, three, the middle one sessile. 

 Native of the Levant and of Palestine. 



29. Hypericum Prolificum ; Proliferous St. John's Wort. 

 Primordial flowers sessile; stem ancipital, shrubby; leaves 

 lanceolate-linear; stamina not longer than the petals. It 

 flowers from June to August. Native of North America. 



30. Hypericum Ericoides ; Heath-leaved St. John's Wort. 

 Leaves linear, imbricated. Native of Spain and Portugal. 



31. Hypericum Canadense; Canadian St. John's Wort. 

 Leaves linear-lanceolate ; stem herbaceous, quadrangular ; 

 pericarpia coloured, twice as long as the calix. This has 

 the appearance of Lesser Centaury. Panicle dichotomous, 

 with pedicelled flowers, which are very small, the size of 

 those of Spurge. It flowers from July to September. Na- 

 tive of North America, and of Canada. 



32. Hypericum Virginicum ; Virginian St. 'John's Wort. 

 Flowers nine-stamined; stem round; leaves ovate, embracing. 

 Native of North America. 



33. Hypericum Mexicanum ; Mexican St. John's Wort. 

 Branches simple ; leaves imbricate, ovate. Stems a foot 

 high ; petals linear. Native of New Granada. 



34. Hypericum Lacvigatum ; Smooth St. John's Wort. 

 Leaves ovate, somewhat stem-clasping ; calicine leaflets 

 ovate, acute ; panicle trichotomous ; middle-flower sessile. 

 It flowers in July. Native of North America. 



35. Hypericum Reflexum ; Reflex-leaved St. John's Wort. 

 Leaves sessile, lanceolate, approximating, reflex ; branches 

 tomentose, panicle terminating. This is a large shrub, with 

 divaricating branches. Native of the island of TenerifFe. 



36. Hypericum Quadrangulum ; Square-stalked St. John's 

 Wort, or St Peter's Wort. Leaves ovate, with pellucid 

 dots ; stem quadrangular, herbaceous. It is distinguished 

 from all the other species by its square stalk. Root peren- 



VOL. j. 61. 



nial, somewhat creeping and fibrous; stems a foot to eighteen 

 inches high; branches decussately opposite; leaves blunt, 

 smooth, strongly marked with seven or nine ribs ; flowers small, 

 terminating in close panicles; branchlets deep red, or blood- 

 colour; peduncles very short; bractes subulate, in pairs; 

 petals finely grooved, concave, marked with lines and dots, 

 filled with a purple liquor, which stains paper with a muddy 

 purple permanent stain. It flowers in July. Native of most 

 parts of Europe, in moist hedges, shady places, wet meadows, 

 by rivulets, and in bogs. This, with the thirty-seventh, eighth, 

 and ninth ; the forty-second, fifth, and ninth ; being wild 

 plants, are seldom cultivated in gardens : they are not, how- 

 ever, without their beauty, and may be increased by parting 

 their roots, and permitting their seeds to scatter. 



37. Hypericum Perforatum ; Common or Perforated St. 

 John's Wort. Stem ancipital ; leaves blunt, with pellucid 

 dots. Koot perennial, woody, brown. The whole plant is 

 sprinkled over with small black glands, and is quite free from 

 hairs ; peduncles from the axils of the upper leaves, two- 

 edged, supporting many flowers in a bushy panicle. The 

 common people of France, Germany, and Portugal, gather 

 it with great ceremony on St. John's Day, and hang it in their 

 windows, a3 a charm against storms, thunder, and evil spirits, 

 mistaking the meaning of some medical writers, who have 

 fancifully given this plant the "name of Fuga Dcemonum, 

 from a supposition of its efficacy in maniacal and hypochon- 

 driacal disorders. In Scotland also it is carried about as a 

 charm against witchcraft and enchantment ; and they fancy 

 it cures ropy milk, which they suppose to be under some 

 malignant influence, by milking afresh upon the herb. Al- 

 though St. John's Wort is not much regarded in the present 

 practice, yet its sensible qualities, and the repeated testimo- 

 nies of its virtues, entitle it, as Dr. Cullen observes, to farther 

 trials. To the taste it is astringent and bitter, and its effects 

 seem chiefly to be diuretic. From possessing properties which 

 have been generally called balsamic, it has been used as a vul- 

 nerary in external wounds and internal heemorrhages ; for the 

 former purpose the tops and flowers of the plant are infused in 

 oil, and for the latter, an infusion of the plant is made in the 

 manner of tea. It has likewise been given in ulcerations of 

 the kidneys, and has been supposed to possess virtues as a 

 febrifuge. The leaves given in substance are said to destroy 

 worms. The semitransparent dots on the leaves are the recep- 

 tacles of an essential oil. The flowers tinge spirits and oils 

 of a fine purple colour, which is probably derived from the 

 little glands upon the antherse and edges of the petals. The 

 dried plant boiled with alum dyes wool of a yellow colour. 

 Hill observes, that the virtues attributed to this plant are at 

 once numerous and very wonderful. He says, an infusion of 

 the young tops is good in the jaundice ; its operation is by 

 urine, the quantity of which it considerably increases if the 

 use of it be continued for some time. The expressed juice is 

 a remedy for spitting of blood ; and the powdered leaves are 

 frequently given by country people for the worms, as also in 

 gouty and rneumatic complaints, and in agues. It is com- 

 mon in woody thickets, hedges and dry banks, flowering 

 from July to September. 



38. Hypericum Dubium ; Imperforate St. Johns Wort. 

 Stem imperfectly four-edged ; leaves blunt, without pellucid 

 dots; calicine leaflets elliptical. In habit, size, and colour, 

 it nearly agrees with the preceding, but differs essentially in 

 having no pellucid dots apparent on the leaves, and in the 

 calicine leaves being elliptical and obtuse. It flowers in July 

 and August. Native of Germany, Dauphiny, and England; 

 growing plentifully about Sapen in Worcestershire, at Hafod 

 in Cardiganshire, and at Downtou Castle near Ludlow. 



8 Z 



