go HYPERIClN'liA; 



Ord. XYJ Hypkrki'nk e. — The St. John's-wort Family 



Herbs, shrubs, or trees, with opposite, exstipulate, siaiple leaves, 

 generally dotted with pellucid glands, and conspicuous yellow 

 polysymmetric flowers, generally iii. cymes; sepals 5, rarely 4, 

 imbricate ; pdah of the same number as the sepals, twisted when 

 in bud ; s/ivi/eiis ^ or 5, much branched near the base and known 

 as polyadelphous ; carpels 3 — 5, syncarpous ; styles 3 — 5 ; Jruit a 

 capsule or nuculane, 3 — 5-chambered and valved, the valves 

 curved inwards ; seeds numerous, minute. Most of the species 

 are aromatic and resinous, and some contain a yellow juice, which 

 ha,s [lurganve, astrnigent, and tonic properties. They occur in 

 most parts o(" the world, the only British genus being that which 

 gi\es the Order its name, IJyperieiiiit. 



1. Hyi'i.kicuai (.St. John's-wort). — Leaves sessile ; flowers in 

 cymes ; sepals 5 ; pe/als 5, usualh' very oblique ; s/ai/ie)!S 3 or 5, 

 much branched; s/yles 3, rarel)' ^; /nil/ 3 or 5-chambered. 

 (Name from the Greek hiperelkon, I'liny also using Inpei-icum, 

 though usage has made it hyperieinnl) 



* Shrubs: sepals imei/i/al : petals ileeiJuoi/s : stamens s, 

 hiwiiehed at the base 



T. //: ,7/;(//-r'v/7////w (Tutsan). — A handsome, shrubby, glabrous 

 plant, 2 — 3 feet high ; stem compressed ; leaves large, ovate, with 

 a strong resinous smell, which they retain for some time after 

 drying ; floioers ;/ in. across, in conspicuous cymes ; petals very 

 oblitpie ; styles^, recurved ;y)7/// glossy, black, berrydike. — Woods 

 and hedges ; not common, except in I)c\x>n and Cornwall. — Fl. 

 June— August. I'erennial. 



2.* H. hireiinnn, a taller, more-branched shrub, with floiuers 

 I ?7 in. across and narrow, acute, deciduous sepals, occurs in 

 shrubberies, but is not indigenous. — Fl. July — September. 

 Perennial. 



3.* dl. eldtinii, a closel)' allied spe'cies with a 2- edged stem and 

 winged /[•(/// //(-/(', occurs under similaf circumstances. 



4.* Z?^. iVc/ivvV////// (Large-flowered St. John's-woit, Paikdeaves). 

 — A IdW glabrous shrulj, about a foot high ; .sVevw square ; leaves 

 2—4 in. long; o'blong, blunt, leathci-y ; /W'tvi solitary, terminal, 

 3—4 in. across, very handsome ; stples 5. — Common in gardens 

 and shrul)l>eries, and naturalised in se\eial places, —Fl. July — 

 Se[itember. rereiinial. 



