214 HYPERICACE.E. 



separating from them. Seeds very numerous, anatropous, 

 oblong or cylindrical, straight or sometimes incurved ; the 

 testa usually conformed to the nucleus and crustaceous, 

 or bearing a wing-like raphe ; the inner integument thickish 

 and fleshy. Albumen none. Embryo oblong or cylindrical ; 

 the cotyledons short, at the extremity opposite the hilum. 



Herbs or shrubs ; with opposite and entire leaves, punc- 

 tate with pellucid and usually also with dark-colored dots ; 

 and commonly showy yellow flowers, which are terminal 

 and solitary or in cymes. 



Etymology. 'YirepiKov, an ancient name, of uncertain derivation. 



Geographical Distribution, &c. This large and polymorphous genus 

 is widely distributed over the world, but far most copiously in the eastern 

 part of the warmer temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, bolh in 

 the New and in the Old World. It is doubtless to be divided hereafter, but 

 not to be dismembered to the extent proposed by Spach. 



Properties. The herbage is acrid, especially in the herbaceous species, 

 as irt the Common St. John's-wort, which has been variously used in popu- 

 lar medicine. Many species are also balsamic. 



PLATE 92. Hypericum graveolens, Buckley; — summit of a flowering 

 plant, cultivated in the Cambridge Botanic Garden, from the moun- 

 tains of North Carolina ; of the natural size. 



1. Diagram of the flower, aestivation, &c. 



2. One of the three sets of stamens (united at the base), enlarged. 



3. Inside, and 4, outside view of a more magnified stamen. 

 5. Pistil, magnified ; and 6, transverse section of the ovary. 



7. An ovule, more magnified. 



8. Enlarged capsule, divided transversely, with the calyx. 



9. Magnified seed ; and 10, vertical section of the same and of the embryo. 

 PLATE 93. Hypericum (Brathys) Sarothra, Michx. ; — natural size. 



1. Diagram of the flower. (Stamens 8, in three sets.) 



2. Enlarged flower; and 3, the two stamens of the third set, magnified. 



4. Pistil, magnified. 



5. Enlarged capsule, transversely divided, showing the truly parietal seeds. 



6. A magnified seed ; and 7, section of the same and of the embryo. 



8. Capsule (5-celled) of Hypericum (Roscyna, Spach) pyramidatum, 



Ait. ; — in dehiscence, divided transversely and enlarged. 



9. A magnified seed ; and 10, the same and the embryo vertically divided. 



