Hypericum.'^ 



XVIII. HYPERICACE^. 



79 



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the axis, or on the incurved margins of the valves. Embryo 

 straight. Albumen 0. — Herbs or shrubs, ivifh generally opposite 

 leaves, mostly marTied with pellucid dots^ and commonly yelloio 

 flowers. Aromatic and resinous, juice somedmes purgative. 



1. Hypericum Linn. St. John's Wort. 



Cah 5-partite, or of 5 sepals, inferior. Pet. 5. Filaments 

 united at the base into 3 or 5 sets (or sometimes almost dis- 

 tinct). Caps, many-seeded. — Name: the vTvqpiKov of DIos- 

 corides. 



* Petals unequal-sided, without any glands or appendages at the base or 



between the sets of the shortly connected stamens, 



f Styles 5. Petals deciduous, Eremanthe. 



1. H. * calycinum L. (large-flowered St, J.) ; flowers solitary, 

 segments of the calyx unequal obovate obtuse, leaves oblong, 

 stem shrubby branched square. E. B, t. 2017. 



Bushy places. Naturalized at Largs, and Balmacarra, Scotland; 

 Ryde, Isle of Wight ; and near Cork, Ireland. ^ . 7 — 9. — Floivers 

 very large, yellow, as in all the genus. Petals and sets of stamens 5, 

 deciduous. Ovary and capsule 5-celled, or 1-celled towards the 

 summit. 



If Stijles 3. 



Petals deciduous. Stamens shortly pentadelphous, 



Androsscrrmm, 



( 



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curved, capsule pulpy nearly globose, stem shrubby compressed, 

 sepals unequal, oval at length larger than the capsule, leaves ovate 

 sessile. E, B, t, 1225. 



Hedges and shrubby places ; Norfolk ; Herts ; Kent ; between 

 Dorking and Guildford ; and at Gt. Marlow, Bucks. Not rare in 

 Devon, Hampshire, and Cornwall. Frequent in Ireland, and the 



west of Scotland. T2 • 6— ^ Stems 2 ft. high. Leaves large. Cymes 



terminal, of ratlier large flowers. Stamens deciduous. Ovary im- 

 perfectly 3-celled. Fruit fleshy and resembling a berry, especially 

 ■when unripe. 



[Mr. Babington, in the Ann. Nat. H., May, 1853, p. 362, 

 describes, under the name of H. Anglicum Bert,?, a plant found 

 by Dr. Balfour in August, 1852, at Glanmire near Cork. This has 

 been long known to collectors in the South of Ireland, but not con- 

 sidered native : see Phyt. v. p. 77. What species Bertoloni intends by 

 the inapplicable name of Anglicum, we do not know ; but the Irish 

 one appears only a slight variety of H, hircinum, and chiefly to differ 

 from Sardinian specimens of that species by the larger size of the 

 leaves: it is readily distinguished from H. Androscemum by the nar- 

 rower and sharper sepals which do not enlarge with the fruit, and the 

 long styles ; its leaves are obtuse or acute, rounded or cordate at the 

 base, rigid or flaccid, and small or large, according to the situation.] 



£ 4 



