106 WILD FLO WEES. 



woodcut is given, and which is more particularly 

 alluded to in the well-known lines : 



" Hypericum, all bloom, so thick a swarm 

 Of flowers, like flies, clothing its slender rods 

 That scarce a leaf appears." 



Of this the Germans say that the perforations of its 

 leaves are made by witches, with pins, for very spite, 

 because the plant " hurts the devil greatly/' 



Of the H. androscemumj with its large handsome 

 flowers, and its sparkling and resinous black berry, 

 I have already spoken, and the remaining British 

 species may be thus briefly enumerated : The large- 

 flowered St. John's-wort (H. calycmum), which is so 

 frequently cultivated in shrubberies, and which has, 

 perhaps, hardly a right to be deemed a native plant : 

 the square-stalked (H. quadrdngulum), which 

 decorates the sides of streams, ditches, or other moist 

 places : the imperforate (H. dubium), which so often 

 passes for the H. perfordtum, and the petals of which 

 are frequently marked with black dots : the moun- 

 tain (H. montdnum,) with its large leaves: the H. 

 barbdtum, or bearded St. JohnVwort (which, I be- 

 lieve has only been found near Aberdalgy, in Perth- 

 shire) : the line-leaved (H. linarifolium) which 

 bears some resemblance to the little H. humifusum : 

 the hairy (H. hirsutum), with its downy leaves : 

 and finally, the H. elodes, or marsh St. John's- wort, 

 which brightens our spongy bog-lands. 



