JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. 



JOHN'S WORT. 



* feet high ; stems angular, leafy, hollow, often 

 reddish, unbranched,panicled at the top; leaves 

 alternate, of many eliptic-lanceolate, entire 

 leaflets, with an odd one of nearly equal size. 

 The flowers, which appear in June, are rather 

 drooping, numerous, blue, occasionally white. 

 All the species are of the easiest culture and 

 propagation. 



JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE. See ARTI- 

 CHOKE. 



JOHN'S WORT, or ST. JOHN'S WORT 

 (Hype i- 1 cum'). The generic name is said to be 

 derived from uper, and eicon, an image. The 

 superior part of the flower represents a figure. 

 The common name is derived from their com- 

 ing into flower about St. John the Baptist's day. 

 The most part of the species of this extensive 

 genus are showy plants. The greenhouse and 

 frame shrubby kinds do well in loam and peat, 

 and young cuttings root freely in sand under a 

 glass. The hardy shrubs are well fitted for the 

 front of shrubberies, being dwarf and showy. 

 They may be increased by divisions or seeds, 

 as well as the herbaceous kinds, which thrive 

 well in any common soil. The seeds of the 

 annual species have onh; to be sown in the 

 open ground in spring. Some of the species 

 indigenous to Britain are as follows: 



1. Large-flowered St. John's Wort (H. caly- 

 mmm). A shrub, growing wild in bushy 

 places in the west of Ireland and Scotland. 

 The root of this species is creeping, the stems 

 shrubby, erect, 12 or 18 inches high, with 

 simple, leafy, square branches, smooth like 

 every other part. The flowers, which appear 

 from July to September, are 2 or 3 inches wide, 

 of a bright golden yellow, with innumerable 

 reddish tremulous anthers. This plant is a 

 great ornament to shrubberies and parks, and 

 excellent as a shelter for game, bearing any 

 cold of our climate. 



2. Tutsan, or Park Leaves (H. andros&mum'). 

 This shrub is found in moist, shady lanes, 

 thickets, and woods in Britain and Ireland, but 

 not very general. It is rather taller and more 

 branched than the preceding. The flowers, 

 which appear in July and August, are an inch 

 wide, yellow, with three sets of stamens, and 

 as many styles. The leaves and other parts 

 have an aromatic scent when rubbed. 



3. Square St. 'John's Wort, or St. Peter's 

 Wort (H. quadrangulum). This species is 

 perennial, and common in moist meadows and 

 thickets, and about the banks of rivers. The 

 root is somewhat woody, creeping ; the herb 

 smooth, light green ; stems several, from one 

 to two feet high, erect, leafy, acutely quadran- 

 gular ; leaves elliptical or ovate, obtuse, many- 

 ribbed, veiny, full of minute, colourless, pellu- 

 cid dots, and bordered with a more or less 

 perfect row of dark-coloured ones yielding a 

 blood-red liquor. The uppermost branches 

 form a leafy dense panicle of numerous lemon- 

 coloured flowers, about half the size of the 

 last-described species. 



4. Common perforated St John's Wort (H. 

 perforatum). This perennial species is met 

 with abundantly in thickets, woods, hedges, and 

 on dry banks. The root is woody, tufted, and 

 somewhat creeping ; the stem reaches to the 



height of 18 inches, and is round and bushy 

 in consequence of the much greater length of 

 its axillary leafy branches. The whole herb 

 is moreover of a darker green, with a more 

 powerful scent when rubbed, staining the 

 fingers with a dark purple, from the greater 

 abundance of coloured essential oil lodged in the 

 herbage and even in the petals : the leaves are 

 very numerous, smaller than the last, elliptical 

 or ovate, obtuse, various in width; the flowers 

 are numerous, in dense, forked, terminal pani- 

 cles, bright yellow, dotted and streaked with 

 black or dark purple. This species is eaten 

 by goats, cows, and sheep, but is refused by 

 horses and hogs. As this plant was found to 

 bleed at the slightest touch, it was supposed to 

 have a vulnerary quality, and became the 

 " balm of the warrior's wound," giving a blood- 

 red colour to every composition, whether of a 

 spirituous or oily nature, into which it entered. 

 It contains resin, and the leaves give a good 

 red dye to wool and oil. 



5. Imperforate St. John's Wort (H. dubium). 

 This species inhabits rather mountainous 

 groves and thickets. The young radical shoots 

 are bright red ; the stem quadrangular in the 

 upper part, but not winged or bordered; the 

 petals and calyx are dotted and blotched with 

 dark purple. 



6. Trailing St. John's Wort (H. hwmifusum). 

 This is a pretty littk procumbent smooth spe- 

 cies, with the lemon-like scent of H. dubium 

 and perforatum, which tenants sandy or gravelly, 

 heathy, and rather boggy pastures. The root 

 is fibrous, stem compressed, prostrate ; flowers 

 few, somewhat cymose; leaves elliptical, 

 smooth. 



7. Mountain St John's Wort (H. montanum). 

 Though not an ostentatious plant, this species 

 well deserves John Bauhin's epithet of " most 

 elegant." The glutinous dark fringes of its 

 calyx and bracteas resemble the glands of a 

 moss-rose ; the stems are erect, round, smooth, 

 about two feet high ; the leaves ovate, naked, 

 clasping the stem. 



8. Bearded St John's Wort (H. barbatum), 

 which grows for the most part in bushy places 

 in Scotland, on an herbaceous stem a foot or 

 more in height, flowering in September and 

 October : 9. Hairy St John's Wort (H. hirsu- 

 tum), flourishing in thickets and hedges, chiefly 

 on a dry, chalky soil, stem two feet high : 10. 

 Small upright St. John's Wort (H. pulchrum'), 

 met with very frequently in woods and bushy, 

 heathy places, on a clay soil ; stem 12 to 18 

 inches high: 11. Marsh St John's Wort (H. 

 elodes), stems procumbent, creeping. There 

 are other species, which call for no detailed 

 description. 



The whole genus, says Mr. Nuttall, in his 

 account of the American species, appears to 

 possess active medicinal properties in common 

 with vismia, which affords indeed much more 

 abundantly a yellow and resinous gum, acting 

 as a cathartic in doses of 7 or 8 grains. The 

 Vismia guttifera of Surinam produces a kind 

 of gamboge. 25 or 26 American species of 

 hypericum are enumerated by botanists. The 

 following are mentioned by Dr. Darlington as 

 found in Chester county, Pennsylvania. 

 3 i, 2 677 



