634 HYPERICUM 



with a greyish brown, peeling bark young shoots two-winged. Leaves blue- 

 green, oblong, i to 2 ins. long, with a minute, abrupt point, and numerous 

 transparent glands. Flowers in clusters terminating the shoot and its upper 

 branches, orange yellow, i^ ins. across, the stamens forming a dense bush f in. 

 across. The fruit is a three-celled, broad-based cone in. high, with the very 

 large, leaflike, unequal sepals at the base. 



Discovered by Bartram in 1776 "upon the steep dry banks of the Patse-. 

 Lega Creek, a branch of the Flint River," Georgia, this Hypericum, despite 

 its great beauty, does not appear to have reached this country until late 

 in the nineteenth century. Healthy plants flower and set their fruit in 

 extraordinary abundance, and it is wise to remove the latter except such 

 as may be required for seed. It appears to prefer rocky places in its native 

 home, and is often found on the cliffs of river-courses where it gets some 

 shade. It is wild 'in several of the south-eastern United States, and is the 

 handsomest of all the American species. (See densiftorum.) 



H. BALEARICUM, LinnCBUS. 

 (Bot. Mag., t. 137.) 



A remarkably distinct species of close, shrubby habit and about 2 ft. high, 

 the steins winged and more or less warted. Leaves 4 to ^ in. long, ovate or 

 oblong, rounded at the tip ; the lower side covered with curious wart-like 

 lumps with a corresponding depression on the upper side ; the margin entire, 

 but very wavy or wrinkled. Flowers terminal and solitary, iijr ins. wide, 

 fragrant ; petals narrow and fragile ; stamens \ in. long. 



Native of the Balearic Isles ; introduced to Britain from Majorca in 1714. 

 This curious plant, quite different in its warted leaves from all other cultivated 

 Hypericums, is, unfortunately, not hardy except in the warmer parts of the 

 country. It flowers from June to September. 



H. BUCKLEYI, Curtis. 

 (Garden and Forest, 1891, fig. 91.) 



A dwarf, deciduous, semi-woody plant forming a dense rounded tuft of 

 slender, angled steins, 6 to 10 ins. high. Leaves 3- to i in. long, oblong or 

 obovate, rounded at the apex, tapered at the base. Flowers one or three at 

 the end of the shoot, bright yellow, \ to i in. diameter ; petals narrowly 

 obovate ; sepals leaflike, spreading in the fruiting stage. 



This charming little shrub is one of the rarest of N. American plants, being 

 confined in a wild state to a few mountain tops in N. Carolina and Georgia. 

 It was introduced to Kew in 1893, but had been discovered fifty years before. 

 Of too fragile and delicate a nature to hold its own in an ordinary shrubbery, 

 it is on the other hand admirably adapted for some nook of the rock garden, 

 where it makes gay little patches in July. It produces abundant seed. Under 

 cultivation its leaves and flowers are considerably larger than in wild examples, 

 and its dainty character is apt to be spoilt by too rich a soil. (See densiflorum.) 



H. CALYCINUM Linnceus. ROSE OF SHARON, 

 AARON'S BEARD. 



(Bot. Mag., t. 146.) 



A low, nearly evergreen shrub, with a creeping root-stalk and erect, 

 obscurely angled, unbranched steins, 12 to 18 ins. high. Leaves rich bright 

 green, ovate oblong, 2 to 3 ins. long, slightly odorous, with little or no stalk. 



