ST. JOHNS- WORT FAMILY. 619 



MELOCHIA L. Sp. PI. 2 : 932. 1753. 



About 35 species, mostly of tropical America. 

 Melochia corchorifolia L. Sp. PI. 2: 675. 1753. HIRSUTE MELOCHIA. 



Melochia hirsuta Chap. Fl. Suppl. 610. 1883. Not Cav. 



Chap. Fl. Suppl. 610; ed. 3, 54. 



WEST INDIES TO BRAZIL. 



Louisianian area. Southern Georgia, naturalized. 



ALABAMA: Coast plain. Adventive on ballast. Mobile. Flowers purplish, July 

 to September; fruit ripe October. A perennial weed, first observed on newly broken 

 ground in the suburbs of Mobile, October, 1874. Subsequently seen on ballast, and 

 since 1882 spreading abundantly in cultivated ground, where 'it has become a per- 

 nicious weed, very injurious to the hay crop. 



Type locality: "Hab. in India." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



WALTHERIA L. Sp. PI. 2 : 673. 1753. 



Sixteen species, tropical America. Perennials. 

 Waltheria americana L. Sp. PI. 2 : 673. 1753. AMERICAN WALTHERIA. 



Chap. Fl. 59. Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 95. 



WEST INDIES, MEXICO TO BRAZIL. 



Tropical Florida. 



ALABAMA: Adventive with ballast. Mobile, September, 1892-93. Not observed 

 lately. 



Type locality: " Hab. in Bahama, Barbiches, Surinamo." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



HYPERICACEAE. St. Johns-wort Family. 1 

 ASCYRUM L. Sp. PI. 2 : 788. 1753. 



Five species, undershrubs, warmer temperate regions, West Indies, Mexico, Atlan- 

 tic North America. 



Ascyrum multicaule Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 2 : 77. 1803. ST. ANDREW'S CROSS. 



Ascyrum crux-andreae L. Sp. PI. 2: 788. 1753. In part, and of most American 

 authors. 



Ell. Sk. 2 : 22, in part, Gray, Man. ed. 6, 92, in part. Chap. Fl. 38, in part ; ed. 3, 56. 



Carolinian and Louisiauian areas. Southern New England west to southern 

 Illinois, Missouri, and Nebraska, south to the Gulf, from Florida to Louisiana and 

 Arkansas. 



ALABAMA : Damp and dry borders of woods, open copses. Lauderdale County. 

 Morgan County, Falkville. Cullman County. Tuscaloosa County (E. A. Smith). 

 Clarke, Monroe, Baldwin, and Mobile counties. Flowers July to October. Shrubby 

 at the base, 2 to< 3 feet high. A low form with compact branches, and smaller 

 glaucous leaves occurs on dry hills in the mountainous region. Clay County, 

 Delta, 1,700 feet. 



Considering the confusion existing between Ascyrum crux-andreae and A . hypericoides 

 L., the first of these names has been replaced by Hypericum multicaule Michx. This 

 species embraces all the northern forms described under A. crux-andreae and those of 

 the same specific characters occurring southward. 



Type locality: "Hab in Virginia, Carolina." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



Ascyrum hypericoides L. Sp. PI. ed. 2 : 1107. 1763. SOUTHERN ST. PETER'S-WORT. 



Ascyrum crux-andreae var. anyustifolium Nutt. Gen. 2 : 16. 1818 ( ?) 



A. crux-andreae of most Southern authors. 



Coulter, Coutr. Nat. Herb. 2 : 34. Griseb. Fl. Brit. W. Ind. 112. 



WEST INDIES, MEXICO. 



Louisianian area. South Carolina to Florida, west to Texas and southern Arkansas. 



ALABAMA : Lower Pine region. Sandy pine barrens in dry and damp soil. 

 Escambia, Washington, Baldwin, and Mobile counties. Flowers July to Septem- 

 ber; frequent. Densely branched shrub !$ to 2 feet high. 



Type locality: "Hab. in Virginia, Jamaica." 



Herb. Geol. Surv. Herb. Mohr. 



