62 HYPERICACEJE. 



taste, contrasting its ample yellow petals and tassels of yellow 

 stamens with the massive dark green leaves. When I was 

 a child we use to call this flower the Hose of Sharon ; and 

 I reverenced it for its scriptural mention. Now that I know 

 that a very different flower is the one used as an emblem of 

 our Saviour I still love the gaudy St. John's Wort for the sake 

 of old association. It grows wild in some parts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, but my specimen is a shrubbery one (Hypericum 

 calycinum). 



The Tutsan (H. androsajmum), or Park-leaves, has foliage 

 resembling that of the large-flowered species ; it is a larger and 

 more shrubby plant, and its flowers grow in small clusters of 

 three or four. The calices are often crimson, and the young 

 buds have a waxy look like yellow berries within their cups. 

 The flower is small compared with the last species, but the large 

 black berry attracts much attention. Edward found it in the 

 lanes about Hawkhurst last July, and I saw the black berries and 

 richly-tinted autumnal leaves about Clevedon late in the year. 



The Kentish lanes also furnish abundance of the square- 

 stalked St. John's Wort or St. Peter's Wort (H. quadrangu- 

 lare) ; it has pale flowers small and very plentiful, and abun- 

 dance of little dotted leaves. It flowers early in August. 



The hedge banks in the same neighbourhood were adorned 

 six weeks earlier with the clear yellow stars of the elegant 

 little trailing St. John's Wort (H. humifusum), a pretty pros- 

 trate cheerful plant. 



The Perforated St. John's Wort (H. perforatum), is so called 

 because of the numerous transparent glands scattered over its 

 leaves, which give them the appearance of being perforated. 

 Several of the other species have these glands also, but none in 

 so great a degree ; its petals are dotted and striped with black. 



The Upright St. John's Wort (H. pulchrum), is a pretty 

 species, of slender growth, and smaller clusters of flowers ; the 

 buds and young shoots are tipped with crimson. 



The Hairy St. John's Wort (H. hirsutum), is distinguished by 



