HYOSCYAMUS 



HYPERICUM 



1629 



exserted, declined: caps. 2-celled, circumscissile above 

 the middle. Henbane grows wild in Eu., W. Asia and 

 Himalayas and is naturalized in Amer. It is found in 

 sandy and waste places. The genus contains about 15 

 species, of the Old World. 



niger, Linn. Annual or biennial, 1-2 ' o ft. high : Ivs. 

 3-7 in. long, the ujjper ones st.-clasping, irregularly 

 lobed or pinnatifid: fls. greenish yellow, with purple 

 veins, short-pedicelled or sessile, in leafy 1-sided 

 spikes: caps, inclosed in the enlarging calyx. — The plant 

 is said to be poisonous to domestic fowls but not to 

 .swine, although it is supposed the generic name has 

 reference to harmful qualities to the latter animals. 

 The Ivs. and flowering tops are medicinal. The plant 

 has no horticultural value. June-Sept. l_ jj, B. 



HYOSERIS {smne salad; i.e., disagreeable or offen- 

 sive). Compodlae. Four species of nearly stemless 

 herbs of S. Eu. and the Medit. region, one of which is 

 sometimes grown as an alpine: allied to Krigia. Plant 

 glabrous or glandular-pubescent: Ivs. radical, pin- 

 natifid: scape 1-headed, leafless, the heads yellow and 

 homogamous; involucre cyUndrical-campanulate, the 

 inner bracts 1-rowed and equal, the outer ones few 

 and short; receptacle plane and naked; corollas ligulate: 

 achene glabrous. H. fdetida, Linn. (Aposcris fdelida, 

 Less.), the species to be expected in the lists is by 

 some authors retained in the genus Aposcris, distin- 

 guislied by characters of the achene: perennial, much 

 like Taraxacum, glabrous or somewhat pilo.se on veins 

 on under side of foliage: Ivs. runcinate-pinnatifid, the 

 lobes about 10-12 pairs and somewhat triangular 

 and sinuate-dentate: small plants in mountains of Eu. 



L. H. B. 



HYOSPATHE (hog spathe: i.e., hog palm, a vernacu- 

 lar name). Patmaceie. Three S. American pahns, httle 

 grown, with pinnatisect Ivs. and unarmed reed-like 

 sts.: fls. green, minute, the jjistilkite smaller than the 

 staminate; stamens 6, and staminodia 6 in pistillate 

 fls.: fr. small, ellipsoid or obovoid, purple. //. elegans, 

 Mart., of the Amazon, one of the thatch palms, has 

 sts. 1 in. diam. and 6 ft. high: Ivs. 3-4 ft. long, at first 

 nearly entire but becoming irregularly pinnate: fls. of 

 both sexes borne in spikes beneath the terminal Ivs. 

 Other species sometimes referred to this genus belong 

 to Prestoea and Pigafetta. L H. B. 



HYPECOUM (an old Greek name). Papaveracex. 

 Annual herbs, sometimes grown in the flower-garden. 

 Scapes erect, ascending or prostrate: Ivs. radical and 

 more or less rosulate, pinnately parted, the segms. 

 pinnatifid or pinnately lobed, the floral Ivs. less divided : 

 fls. rather small, yellow or white; sepals 2, smaU, decidu- 

 ous; petals 4, in 2 series, the outer ones often lobed, 

 the 2 inner ones deeply 3-parted; stamens 4, opposite 

 the petals: caps, narrow and silique-likc, constricted 

 between the seeds. — Species 1.5, according to the latest 

 monograph (Fedde, in Engler's Pflanzenreich, hft. 40, 

 1909), in the Medit. region and east to China. They 

 are of simple cult, under usual garden conditions. H. 

 prociimbens, Linn. One foot: sts. or scapes ascending 

 or becoming decumbent in fr.: Ivs. glaucous-green, the 

 basal ones 2-pinnatifid and the lobes very narrow and 

 entire: fls. bright yellow, about y^^n. across; outer 

 petals somewhat S-lobed but the side lobes very .short. 

 Medit. region to India. Variable. //. grandiflurum, 

 Benth. Six to 12 in., forking: Ivs. with narrow Unear 

 segms. which are often lobed at top: fls. orange, about 

 J^in. across, the outer petals with jirominent side lobes. 

 Medit. region to Asia Minor. L j-j jj 



HYPERICUM (Hypereikon, ancient Greek name of a 

 plant, of obscure meaning, possibly derived from 

 ereike, heather, with the prefix hypo, beneath). Hij- 

 pericacese, often united with Guttiferse. St. John's- 

 WoRT. Ornamental shrubby or herbaceous plants 



chiefly grown for their bright yellow flowers; planted in 

 the open; often with interesting foliage and habits. 



Deciduous, or sometimes evergreen, usually low 

 shrubs, or herbaceous perennials, rarely annual: Ivs. 

 opposite, short-petioled or sessile, entire, dotted with 

 pellucid or opaque glands, without stipules: fls. usually 

 in terminal cymes, less often solitary, sometimes axil- 

 lary, yellow, rarely pink or purpUsh; sepals 5, imbricate 

 or valvate, often unequal; petals .5, obUque, convolute in 

 bud; stamens usually numerous, free, or connate at the 

 base into 5 or 3 bundles, rarely as few as 3; ovary supe- 

 rior, with 3-5 parietal placentip, 1-5-celled; styles 3-5, 

 distinct or united: fr. a septicidal caps., rarely a berry; 

 seeds usually cyUndric, many, rarely few. — About 200 

 species in the temperate and subtropical regions of the 

 northern hemisjjhere, few in the southern hemisphere. 



The St. John's worts are exceedingly variable in 

 habit ; most species in cultivation are low shrubs, either 

 upright with ascending or spreading branches, or tufted 

 or procumbent; the herbaceous species have often 

 stiff upright wand-like stems or are diffuse or pro- 

 cumbent: the leaves are usually narrow and rather 

 small; the yellow, rarely pink or jjurplish flowers 

 appear usually in profusion during the summer in 

 terminal clusters, less often soUtary, sometimes axillary 

 and forming leafy racemes or panicles; they vary from 

 ^5 inch to 3 inches in di.ameter; the capsular fruits are 

 inconspicuous or even unsightly when ripe, only the 

 fruits of the one berry-bearing species are ornamental. 

 Most of the species are tender in the North. H. 

 aureum, H. prolifwum, H. lobocarpum, and other 

 American species, also H. calycinum and H. patulum var. 

 Henryi, with some protection, have proved hardy as 

 far north as Massachusetts, and H. Kalmianum and 

 H. Ascyro7i are still hardy in Canada. Others Uke H. 

 patulum, H. Hookerianum, H. Moserianum, H. chinense 

 can be rehed upon only .south of New York. H. flori- 

 hundum is doing well in California and so will probably 

 the other Mediterranean species. 



They thrive in any good loamy soil, and also in 

 sandy soil, if sufficiently moist; most of them prefer 

 partly shaded situations and bloom longer if not 

 exposed to the full sun. They are, as a rule, short- 

 lived plants and ought to be renewed when they show 

 signs of exhaustion. The larger kinds are well adapted 

 for borders of shrubberies and form round rather dense 

 bushes when standing alone, while those like H. caly- 

 cinum, H. Buckleii anfl H. adpressum are suited for 

 low borders or as a gi'ound-cover, particularly //. 

 calycinum which spreads rapidly by suckers. Many of 

 the low tufted or prostrate species enumerated in the 

 supplementary list are handsome plants for rockeries 

 where the more tender species can be so planted as to be 

 ea-sily protected during the winter. Propagation is by 

 seeds, which germin.ate readily, the shrubby species also 

 by greenwood cuttings under glass in summer; the 

 creeping kinds as //. calycinum and some herbaceous 

 species also by division and suckers. 



adpressum, 17. 

 Androssemum, 23. 

 Ascyron, 1. 

 aureum, 14. 

 axillare, 12. 

 Buckleii, Ifi. 

 calycinum. 2. 

 cernuum, 3. 

 chinenHe. 4. 

 cistifolium, IS. 

 densiflorum, 11. 

 elatuni, 22. 

 fnstii;iiititm, 17. 

 floribundum, 20. 

 fuliosum, 13. 



INDEX. 



galioides, 12. 

 glomeratum, 10. 

 graailifolium, 22. 

 Henryi, 6. 

 hircinum, 21. 

 Hookerianum, 5. 

 Kalmianum. 9. 

 Lesclienaultii. .5. 

 lobocarpum. .S. 

 minor, 21. 

 monoift/num, 4. 

 Moserianum, 7. 

 muUiJlorum, 22. 

 nepaterise, G. 



nudiflorum, 15. 

 oblongifolium, 3, 5, 6. 

 patulum, 6. 

 perforatum, 19. 

 prolificum, 11, 13, 14. 

 pumilum, 21. 

 jiyramUUitum, 1. 

 sphuTocarpum, 18. 

 tricolor, 7. 

 trifiorum, 5. 

 uralum. 6. 

 Vilmorinii, 1. 

 virginicum, 24. 

 Webbianitm, 22. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES. 



Fls. yellow. 

 B. Nutnher of styles 5. 



c. Plants herbnceous, 2-6 ft 1. Ascyron 



cc. Plants shrubby. 



