iiYPiciucACK.*:. (sT. joiin's-wout family.) 83 



4. D. fi.lif6rmis, Raf. (TiinKAn-LEAVEn St:Ni>E\v.) I^avrs rcrii lour/ 

 avdjilifurm, erect, with no distinction l)Ct\vccn blade and stalk ; seeds spindle- 

 shaped ; flowers ntinierous, purple rosceolor (V hroad). — Wet sand, near the 

 coast, riyniouth, Massachusetts to New Jersey, and southward. Aiifr. — 

 Scapes G'-12' high, and the singular leaves nearly as long, from a l)iill)-likc 

 base or eorni. 



Dion.'ea MuscfpiTLA, Ellis, the Vexits's Fly-trap, — so noted for the ex- 

 traordinary irritability of its leaves, closing quickly at the touch, — is a native 

 of the sandy savannas of the eastern part of North Carolina. It differs in 

 several respects from the character of the order given above ; the stamens being 

 15, the styles united into one, and the seeds all at the base of the pod. 



Order 10. IIYPERICACE^. (St. Johx's-wort Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, tcith opposite entire (lotted leaves and no stipules, regular 

 hjpogijnous flowers, the petals mostly oblique and convolute in the bud, and 

 many or few stamens commonly collected in 3 or more clusters or bundles. 

 Pod 1-celled with 2 - 5 j}arietal placentie, and as many styles, or 3- 7-celled 

 by the union of the placenta: in the centre : dehiscence mostly septicidal. — 

 Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 4 or 

 5, mostly deciduous. Styles persistent, at first sometimes united. Seeds 

 numerous, small, anatropous, with no albumen. Embryo cylindrical. — 

 Plants with a resinous juice (acrid and balsamic), dotted with pellucid or 

 dark glands, usually smooth. Leaves mostly sessile. Flowers solitary or 

 cymose. 



1. Agcyrum. Sepals 4, very unequal. Petals 4, oV)lique, convolute, yellow. 



2. Hypericum. Sepals 5. Petals 5, obliquo, convolute, yellow. 



3. Elodes. Sepals 5. Petals 5, equal-sided, imbricated, purplish. Glands alternating with 



the statnen-clusters. 



1. ASCYRUM, L. St. Peter'.s-wort. 



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

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

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

 valvcd. — Low, rather shrubby, smooth plants, with pale black-dotted leaves, 

 and nearly solitary light yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name of some 

 plant, from a, without, and (TKvpn^, roiKjliniss.) 



1. A. Stans, Michx. (St. Petek's-woht.) Stem rather simple, 2-ed<;cd, 

 l°-2° hi;:h, stout; leaves oral or ohlontj, sntnurhiit rlni/iliiii, thickish ; petals 

 obovate ; styles 3 or 4. — Pine barrens. Long Island to Penn. and southward. 

 July, Aug. — Flowers showy, almost sessile : outer sepals round-heart-shaped. 



2. A. Crux-Andreoe, L. (St. Andrew's Cross.) Low, much 

 branched and decumbent; liavis iiarroirli/ ohovatc-olilonfj, contrortpd at the Ixise, 

 thin; petals HumroUumj ; styles 2, very shun ; pod flat. — Pine barrens. New 

 Jersey to Illinois, and southward. July-Se]it. — Petals scarcely exceeding 

 the outer sepals, approaching each other in pairs over tlicm, in the form of a 

 St. Andrew's cross. 



