HYPERICACE^E. (ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY.) 49 



short. Plants with a resinous juice (of acrid and balsamic qualities), 

 dotted with pellucid or dark glands, usually smooth. Leaves mostly ses- 

 sile. Flowers solitary or cyrnose. 



Synopsis. 



1. ASCYRUM. Sepals 4, very unequal. Petals 4, oblique, convolute, yellow. 



2. HYPERICUM. Sepals 5. Petals 5, oblique,, convolate, yellow. 



8. ELODEA. Sepals 5. Petals 5, equal-sided, imbricated, naked, purplish. Glands 3- 



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



Sepals 4 ; the 2 outer very broad and leaf-like ; the inner much smaller. Pet- 

 als 4, oblique, very deciduous, convolute in the bud. Stamens numerous ; the 

 filaments distinct and scarcely in clusters. Pod strictly 1-celled, 2-4-valved. 

 Low, rather shrubby plants, with pale black-dotted leaves, and nearly solitary 

 pale yellow flowers. (Name from a, without, and cntvpos, roughness, being very 

 smooth plants.) 



1. A. stilus, Michx. (Sx. PETER'S-WORT.) Stem simple or branched 

 above, 2-edged, l-2 high, stout; leaves oval or oblong, somewhat clasping, thick 

 ish; petals obovate ; styles 3-4. Pine barrens, Long Island, New Jersey, and 

 southward. July, Aug. Flowers showy, almost sessile: outer sepals round- 

 heart-shaped. 



2.* A. Crwx-AnclreiJe, L. (Si. ANDREAV'S CROSS.) Low, much 

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

 thin; petals linear-oblong; styles 2, very short; pod flat. Pine barrens, New 

 Jersey to Illinois, 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. HYP ERIC UITI, L. ST. JOHN'S-WORT. 



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

 numerous or few, united or clustered in 3-5 parcels: no interposed glands. 

 Pod 1- or 3-5-cclled. Seeds usually cylindrical. Herbs or shrubs, with 

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



$ 1. Stamens very numerous, 5-adelphous : pod 5- (rarely 6-7-) celled, with the pla- 

 centa turned far hick into the cells : herbaceous, perennial : Jlowers very largt 

 1. II. pyramidshtum, Ait. (GREAT ST. JOHN'S-WORT.) Branches 

 2 - 4-angled ; leaves ovate-oblong, partly clasping ; petals narrowly obovate. not, 

 deciduous until after they wither; stigmas capitate. Banks of rivers, rare, W. 

 New England to Wisconsin and Illinois. July. Plant 3 -5 high. Leaves 

 2' -3' long. Petals 1' long. Pod f long, conical. 



2. Stamens very numerous : pod 3 - 5-celled by the union of the placentae, which are 



seed-bearing on the outer face. 



* Shrubs, leafy to the top : styles (at first united) and cells of the pod 3 or 5 : calyx 

 leafy, spreading : stamens scarcely at all clustered-, 

 5 



