HYP 



II Y P 



tion from frost in the winter season, and plenty 

 of fresh air in mild weather. 



All the sorts, except the second and fourth, 

 may be introduced so as to afford variety in the 

 borders and clumps of pleasure-grounds; but 

 these two may be placed out among other more 

 hardy potted sorts, or in collections of green- 

 house plants, with good effect. 



HYPERICUM, "a genus furnishing plants of 

 the shrubby and under-shrubby, hardy and ten- 

 der kinds. 



It belongs to the class and order Polyadelphia 

 Polyandria, and ranks in the natural order of 

 Rotacece. 



The characters are : that the calyx is a five- 

 parted perianthium : segments subovate, con- 

 cave, permanent : the corolla has five petals, 

 oblong-ovate, obtuse, spreading, wheel-shaped, 

 according to the sun's apparent motion : the 

 stamina have numerous capillar)' filaments, 

 united at the base in five or three bodies : an- 

 thers small : the pistillum is a roundish germ : 

 styles three (sometimes one, two, or five), sim- 

 ple, distant, the length of the stamens : stig- 

 mas simple : the pericarpium is a roundish cap- 

 sule, with the same number of cells as there 

 are styles : the seeds very many and oblong. 



The species cultivated are : 1 . H. balearicum, 

 Warted St. John's -wort; 2. H. Ascyron, 

 Great flowered St. Peter's-wort ; 3. H. Andro- 

 sceimim, Common Tutsan ; 4. H. Canariense, 

 Canary St. Jolm's-wort; 5. H.hircinum, Stink- 

 ing Shrubby St. John's -wort ; 6. H. monogy- 

 num, Chinese St. John's-wort. 



The first rises with a slender shrubby stalk 

 in this country, about two feet high ; but in its 

 native soil it acquires the height of seven or 

 eight feet, sending out several weak branches of 

 a reddish colour, and marked with scars where 

 the leaves have fallen off: the leaves are small, 

 oval, waved on their edges, and having several 

 small protuberances on their under side : they 

 sit close to the branches, half embracing them 

 at the base : the flowers are terminating, large, 

 bright, yellow. It is a native of Majorca. 



The second species has a stem a cubit and 

 half high, round, smooth, rufescent : the 

 leaves are pale green, paler underneath, an inch 

 long and half an inch wide, roundish, opposite : 

 the flowers terminating : calyx green : corolla 

 pale yellow, five times as large as in the common 

 sort. It is a native of the Pyrenees. 



The third has a perennial, thick, woody root, 

 of a reddish colour, sending out very long fibres : 

 the stems suffruticose or under-shrubby, anci- 

 pital two-edged or slightly winged on opposite 

 sides, two feet high and more, branched towards 

 3 



the top, of a reddish colour, and smooth : 

 branches brachiate or decussated, spreading : 

 the leaves opposite, sessile, ovate, entire, smooth, 

 dark green, glaucous on the under side, netted 

 with numerous projecting veins and nerves, 

 which become through age ferruginous: on the 

 stem they are two inches long, and an inch and 

 half broad at the base ; those on the branches 

 are smaller, of different sizes, and some of them 

 approaching to lanceolate : the flowers small for 

 the size of the plant, disposed in a cyme : the 

 peduncles round, smooth, usually two- or three- 

 flowered, but sometimes one-floweied : the fruit 

 an ovate capsule, assuming the appearance of a 

 berry; at first yellowish green, then red or 

 brownish purple, and lastly almost black when 

 ripe. It is a native of the south of Europe. 



The fourth species rises with a shrubby stalk 

 six or seven feet high, dividing into branches at 

 top : the leaves are oblong, set by pairs close to 

 the branches, having a strong odour, but less 

 than those of the fifth : the flowers terminating 

 in clusters, very like those of the fifth. It is a 

 native of the Canary islands, flowering from 

 July to September. 



The fifth rises with shrubby stalks three feet 

 high, sending out small opposite branches at 

 each joint: the leaves are oblong, ovate, placed 

 by pairs, sessile, and having a rank smell : the 

 flowers are in terminating bunches. It is a na- 

 tive of the south of Europe, flowering from 

 July to September. 



There are varieties, one larger, which is the 

 common one : the other smaller. 



The sixth has a root composed of many woody 

 fibres, striking deep into the ground : the stems 

 several, shrubby, near two feet high, covered 

 with a purplish bark : the leaves stiff, smooth, 

 about two inches long, and a quarter of an inch 

 broad, opposite, sessile, of a lucid green on 

 their upper surface, and gray underneath, hav- 

 ing many transverse veins running from the 

 midrib to the border: the flowers terminating 

 in small clusters, each on a short peduncle. It 

 is a native of China, flowering from March to 

 September. 



Culture. — The first and last sorts are more 

 tender than the others, requiring the protection 

 of the green-house in winter. They are capa- 

 ble of "being increased by layers or cuttings. 

 The former are made in the spring on the young 

 shoots, which, when well rooted in the end of 

 summer, may be taken off and planted out in 

 separate pots. The cuttings of the young 

 shoots may be planted in pots in the summer, 

 and plunged in a hot-bed, and when well rooted, 

 removed into separate pots. 



