92 ELATINACEJE. ( WATER- WORT FAMILY.) 



etc., N. H. to 111., Va., and south west ward. Pod very thin and delicate ; the 

 seeds large in proportion, straightish. 



2. E. triandra, Schkuhr. Leaves oblanceolate or nearly lanceolate; 

 petals and stamens commonly 3 ; seeds more slender, covering the axis 

 Ponds, 111., Neb., and westward. (Eu.) 



3. E. brachysp^rma, Gray. Leaves oblong or oval with narrowed 

 base ; flowers mostly dimerous ; seeds short-oblong, with 6 or 7 longitudinal 

 lines and 10-12 crossbars. 111. and southwestward. 



ORDER 18. HYPEKICACEJE. (ST. JOHN'S-WORT FAMILY.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with opposite entire dotted leaves and no stipules, regular 

 Jiypogynous 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 \-celled with 2-5 parietal placentae, 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, dotted with pellucid or dark glands, usually 

 smooth. Leaves mostly sessile. Flowers solitary or cymose. 

 * Petals oblique, convolute, yellow ; hypogynous glands none. 



1. Ascyrum. Sepals 4, in 2 very unequal pairs. Petals 4. Stamens many, distinct. 



2. Hypericum. Sepals 5, alike. Petals 5. Stamens usually many and in 3 or 5 clusters. 

 * * Petals equal, imbricate, purplish; glands alternating with the 3 stamen-clusters. 



3. Elodes. Sepals and petals 5. Stamens usually 9. Ovary 3-celled. 



1. ASCYRUM, L. ST. PETER'S-WORT. 



Sepals 4 ; the two outer very broad and 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- 

 valved. 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 axi/pos, roughness.) 



1. A. starts, Michx. (ST. PETER'S-WORT.) Stem rather simple, 2-edged, 

 1-2 high, stout j leaves oval or oblong, somewhat clasping, thickish ; flowers 

 showy ; outer sepals round-cordate, inner lanceolate ; petals obovate ; styles 3 

 cr 4. Pine barrens, Long Island to Penn., and southward. July. Aug. 



2. A. Crux-Andrese, L. (ST. ANDREW'S CROSS.) Low, much 

 branched and decumbent; leaves narrowlt/ obovate-oblong, contracted at the 

 base, thin; petals linear-oblong; styles 2, very short; pod flat. Nantucket; 

 pine barrens of N. J. to S. 111., Neb., and southward. July - Sept. Petals 

 scarcely exceeding the outer sepals, approaching each other in pairs over 

 them, in the form of a St. Andrew's cross. 



2. HYPERICUM, Tourn. ST. JOHN'S-WORT. 



Sepals 5, somewhat equal. Petals 5, oblique, convolute in the bud, Sta- 

 mens commonly united or clustered in 3-5 parcels; no interposed glands. 



