CLASS XVIII, ORDER I. | HYPERICUM. 1013 
Flabitat.—W oods and bushy places in hilly or mountainous districts 
in various places, but not common. 
Perennial; flowering in July and August. 
1. A. perfora'tum, Linn. (Fig. 1182) Common perforated St. 
John’s Wort. Stem erect, two edged, herbaceous, branched ; leaves 
ovate oblong, with pellucid dots; calyx segments lanceolate, acute, 
entire ; styles three. 
English Botany, t. 295.—English Flora, vol. iii. p. 325.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 281.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 42. 
fioot woody, fibrous, with somewhat creeping underground stems. 
Stem erect, about two feet high, round, with two opposite elevated 
lines, smooth, much branched and leafy. Leaves ovate oblong, 
smooth, sessile, various in size and width, dark green above, paler 
beneath, and copiously dotted over with small pellucid glandular 
dots. Inflorescence very numerous, bright yellow flowers, terminating 
the stem, and branched in paniculated clusters. Calyx segments 
narrow, lanceolate, acute. Petals ovate, oblique, crenated on one 
side, entire on the other, spreading, spotted and streaked like the 
calyx with dark purplish glandular spots. Stamens numerous, the 
filaments slender, spreading, the anthers small, ovate. Styles three, 
short. Capsules rather large, ovate, acute, three celled, many seeded. 
Habitat.—W oods, thickets, hedges, &c. ; very common. 
Perennial ; flowering in July and August. 
The size of this species is very variable, according to the soil and 
situation in which it has grown; but it is readily distinguished in all 
its varieties by its lanceolate calyx segments and much dotted leaves. 
It was formerly held in high repute as a valuable remedial plant in 
the cure of wounds, bruises, &c., and obtained the name in conse- 
quence, of the “ Balmof the Warrior’s Wound.” Ancient superstition 
attributed to this plant the power of defending persons from enchant- 
ments, phantoms, and spectres, and still more of being adapted to 
drive away devils, for which virtue it was called by the old herbalists 
Fuga Demonum ; and this superstitious feeling is not even now 
exploded, for it is said that the French and German peasants gather 
it with much ceremony on St. John’s day, a species of credulity appa- 
rently of modern adoption. 
5. H. humifu'sum. Linn. (Fig. 1183.) Trailing St. John’s Wort. 
Stem procumbent, filiform, sub-compressed ; leaves ovate oblong, 
obtuse ; calyx segments ovate, obtuse, entire, leafy ; styles three. 
English Botany, t. 1226.—English Flora, vol. iii. p. 326.—Hooker, 
British Flora, ed. 4. vol. i. p. 281.—Lindley, Synopsis, p. 42. 
foot fibrous, the whole plant smooth, herbaceous. .Stems nume 
rous, branched, procumbent, spreading, somewhat compressed, two 
edged, leafy, slender. Leaves ovate oblong, obtuse, sessile, a bright 
green above, pale and glaucous beneath, and veiny, the margin with 
