84 llVl'EIUCACE^. AscYRUM. 



Group 4. Ovanj compound, tvith the lilacentcc paiietal, or 2 - b-celled from their 

 meeting in the axis : styles distinct or partly united. yEstivation of the calyx 

 imbricated. Stamens and petals inserted on the receptacle. Seeds with a 

 st?mght embryo and little or 7io albumen. 



Order XVII. HYPERICACEiE. Jms. The St. John's-wort Tribe. 



Calyx of 4 - 5 sepals, which are distinct or somewhat united at the base ; the 2 

 exterior often smaller. Petals as many as the seijals, and alternate with them ; 

 the veins oblique ; aestivation twisted. Stamens usually numerous, and more 

 or less cohering at the base in three or more parcels ; anthers fixed by the 

 middle, introrse. Styles distinct or partly united : stigmas simple or somewhat 

 cajaitate. Fruit either baccate, or more commonly a capsule with 2-5 valves 

 and a sejDticidal dehiscence, 2 - 5-celled with the placentae in the axis, or 1- 

 celled with the placentae nearly or quite parietal. Seeds very numerous 

 (rarely few), straight or a little curved, anatropous : albumen none, but the 

 tegmen sometimes fleshy. Embryo cylindi'ical, straight. — Shrubs or herbs, or 

 sometimes trees with a resinous juice, and dotted with small pellucid or black 

 immersed glands. Leaves opposite, entire, destitute of stipules. Inflorescence 

 various. Flowers commonly yellow. 



Tkibe I. HYPERICEJE. Choisy. 

 Fruit capsular. Seeds terete or loundish. — Herbs or shrubby plants. Leaves mostly sessile, 



1. ASCYRUM. Linn.; Choisy, prodr. Hyper., and in DC. prodr. l.p. 55; Endl. gen. 



5463. ST. PETER'S WORT. 



[ Name from the Greek, a, privative, and shjros, roughness; the plant being smooth to the touch.] 



Sepals 4 ; the 2 exterior usually broad and foliaceous ; the inner much smaller. Petals 4, 

 caducous. Filaments slightly united at the base into several parcels. Styles 2-3 (rarely 

 4), sometimes united. Capsule 1-celled, 2 - 3-valved : placentae parietal. — Shrubby or 

 suffruticosc plants. Leaves sprinkled with both black and pellucid dots. Flowers 1-3, 

 at the summit of the branches, yellow : a pair of subulate bracteoles at the base of each 

 flower. 



1. AsCYRUM STAN.S, Michx. Upright St. Peters Wort. 



Stem ancipital and somewhat winged, straight, erect, dichotomously branched at the sum- 

 mit ; leaves oblong, closely sessile, somewhat clasping, obtuse, a little glaucous ; flowers on 



