78 



ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM 



119. ^ndrosae'mum officinMe. 



Derivation. From aner, andros, a man, and haima, blood ; the capsules, when crushed between the 

 fingers, giving out a blood-coloured juice. Tutsan is a corruption of touts saine, all heal ; and 

 it was applied to the plant formerly from its supposed vulnerary properties. 



Gen. Char. Capsule baccate ; usually 1 -celled. Calyx 5 -parted, with unequal 

 lobes. Petals 5. Styles 3. Stamens numerous, disposed in 3 sets. (Don's 

 Mill.) 



Leaves simple, opposite, exstipulate, sub-evergreen. Flowers terminal. 

 The whole plant closely resembling a //ypericum. Suftruticose. Indi- 

 genous in Britain. 



j* - 1. A. OFFICINA^LE Allioni. The officinal Androsaemum, or common Tutsan. 



Identification. All. Ped., No. 1440.; Dec. Prod., 1. p. 543.; Don's 

 Mill., l.p.601. 



Synonymes. Clymetlon Italbrum L'Obel; Hypericutn ^ndrosae'mum 

 Lin., Willd., Smith, and Hooker; Park Leaves (because it is fre- 

 quently found wild in parks) ; Androseme otticinale, Fr. ; breit- 

 blattriges (broad-leaved) Johanniskraut, Get:; Ciciliana Ital. 



Engravings. Blackw., t. 94. ; Eng. Bot., t. 1225.; and our Jig. 119. in 

 flower, and Jig. 120. showing the fruit. 



Spec. Char., $c. Leaves ovate, and somewhat heart- 

 shaped, sessile, widely spreading. A sub-evergreen, 

 suffruticose shrub, forming a dense bush, with many 

 steins. Europe; and in England in moist shady woods. Height 2 ft. to 

 3 ft. Flowers yellow, 1 in. across ; July to September. Capsule brownish 

 purple, and lastly, almost black ; ripe in 

 October. 



The fruit is an ovate capsule, assuming 

 the appearance of a berry : it is at first 

 yellowish green, then red or brownish 

 purple; and, lastly, almost black when 

 ripe. The juice of the capsules, and also 

 that of the leaves, is claret-coloured. The 

 latter, when bruised, have an aromatic 

 scent, and were formerly applied to fresh 

 wounds ; and hence the French name of 

 la toute saine. In gardening, the plant is 

 valuable as growing under the drip of 

 trees, and thriving and flowering freely 

 in almost any soil or situation. It is 

 readily propagated by division of the 

 root. 



, ORDER XIII. 



ORD. CHAR. Flowers either unisexual or bisexual. Calyx and corolla equal 

 in the number of their parts, with an imbricated aestivation ; the corolla 

 sometimes absent. Petals without appendages. Stamens inserted upon a 

 disk, which arises from below the pistil lum, not agreeing in number with 

 the divisions of the calyx and corolla. Pistillum 2-lobed, each lobe having 

 a wing at its back. Style 1. Stigmas 2. Fruit formed of two samaras, or 

 keys, each containing 1 cell and 1 erect seed. Embryo curved, with leafy 

 shriveled cotyledons, and no albumen. (Liiidl.*) Deciduous trees or shrubs, 

 natives of the temperate climates of Europe, North America, and Asia. 



Leaves simple, opposite, exstipulate, deciduous, rarely evergreen ; variously 

 lobed, rarely pinnate. The species in British gardens are included in the 

 genera A^cer and Negundo, which are thus contradistinguished: 



A^CER L. Flowers polygamous. Leaves lobed. 



Moench. Flowers dioscious. Leaves pinnate. 



