414 25. HYPERICUM MONTANUM. [CL. XVIII. 



crs in the panicle, only a pair is ahvays quite open : they 

 consist of five oWiqiie, entire, citron-yellow leaflets. From 

 the bottom of the calyx rise the yellow filaments, in indeter- 

 minate number, and in three bundles : they carry oval anthe- 

 ra?, likewise of a yellow colour, and are for the most part 

 longer than the petals. The germen is superior, and carries 

 three remote pistilla, with button-shaped stigmata. After 

 flowering, the corolla withers, without falling off^", and be- 

 comes somewhat twisted, for its aestivation is complex. The 

 fruit is a thrce-lobed capsule, the valves of which form 

 double dissepimenta with their inverted margins. The nume- 

 rous fine seeds contain the embryon evoh ed, with albuminous 



Diagnosis and Affinity. 



The species most related to this is the H. elegans Willd., 

 {Kohlianum Fl. Hal.) But this is distinguished — by its 

 shrubby stem, which with us is seldom longer than a small 

 span, — by its leaves, which, being much smaller, are furnish- 

 ed on the margin, not with black, but with bright points, and 

 have their margins for the most part reversed. This species is 

 limited in Germany to a single calcareous hill. But it grows 

 also in Volhynia, where it is an ell in length, and in Siberia. 

 H. perfoliatum L. or ciliatum Willd. has a two-edged stem, 

 and pellucid points in the leaves, which embrace the stalk. 

 Of exactly the same nature is the structure of //. ThomoMi 

 from Calabria. It has cordate leaves, completely embracing 

 the stem, furnished with bright points, and pellucid cartilagi- 

 nous margins, an obtuse quadrangular stem, the bractea? and 

 the leaves of the calyx completely set round with glands having 

 stalks. Very much resembling our plant is aiSo H. macula' 

 turn Wall. Mich. ; but here also the stem and the petals are 

 furnislied with dark points. The panicle is expanded, with 

 branches distant from one another, and forming together 

 an umbel. H. coiipnbosuui Willd., and pnnctahim Lam., 

 belong to this species. But H. pimctafum Willd. seems to 

 be a different species, although one that is related to H. mon- 

 ianuiii. The dark points shew themselves through the whole 



