Hypericum.] hypericace^. 91 



as large as those of H. montanum, obtuse at both ends, covered with minute 

 papillsB in close-set longitudinal rows. 



6. H. montanum, L. Mountain St. John s-wort. Stem simple 

 erect terete glabrous, leaves sessile distant ovate-oblong with 

 marginal dots a little hairy beneath glabrous above, the upper 

 jjellucid punctate, panicle terminal dense subcapitate, sepals lan- 

 ceolate acute fringed vsfith elliptical glands, petals oblong entire 

 without dots or glands. Br. Fl. p. 81. E. B. t. 371. 



In hilly woods and on dry bushy banks, rare, and seldom in any quantity toge- 

 ther. FL July — September. Fr. September. %. 



E. Med. — At East End occasionally, but always in small quantity. Plentiful 

 on the right-hand bank before entering the gate leading into Pelham woods, Fre- 

 derick Toumsend, Esq. Pelham woods, but very scarce. lu the grounds and 

 elsewhere about Steephill, Albert Hambrough, Esq. 



Root strong, of several stout, reddish brown, woody and creeping fibres, and 

 emitting slender leafy suckers at the crown. Sletns several, from 1 to 2J feet 

 high, erect, ascending or even decumbent and somewhat woody at base, round, 

 smooth, slender, rigid and slightly flexuose, simple or sometimes very slightly 

 branched, yellowish or purplish, scarred and naked below, quite glabrous, not at 

 all winged or angled. Leaves opposite, in pairs, distant, becoming remarkably so 

 towards the summit of the stem, the highest 3, 4, or 6 inches apart, the interval 

 between each pair diminishing towards the root, the lowermost not more than half 

 that distance asunder, sessile, thin, with a more or less erect tendency, those about 

 the centre of the stem the largest, ovato-oblong, ovato-elliptical or oblongo-ellipti- 

 cal, obtuse or a little pointed sometimes with a small apiculiis, subcordate and 

 semiamplexicaul at base, glabrous above, minutely pubescent beneath with short, 

 erect, bristly hairs, sometimes glabrous on both sides, about 9- or 10-iibbed, pel- 

 lucidly reticulate with a line of minute black dots along the under side of their 

 often purplish brown margins ; the upper leaves pretty thickly sprinkled with pel- 

 lucid points, of which the lowest are in part or wholly destitute. Panicle termi- 

 nal, with occasionally a pair or two of smaller lateral ones from the axils of the 

 uppermost leaves, leafless, very short, dense and compact, almost capitate, the 

 lowermost pair of its branches and sometimes the next pair above it usually sepa- 

 rated by a short interval from the rest, which are very closely crowded. Bracts, — 

 a pair under each fork of the panicle, clasping, lanceolate, d en ta to-serrate and 

 glandular like the sepals, which they closely resemble. Flowers like those of H. 

 hirsutum, few only expanding at a time in the same panicle. Sepals lanceolate, 

 acute, pellucidly striate, furrowed and shining, appearing beautifully fringed with 

 close, erect, stalk-like serratures, each bearing a purplish black, roundish, obconic 

 gland, depressed at top. Petals much longer than the calyx, obliquely oblong, 

 obtuse, pale yellow, pellucidly striate or veined, quite entire, without marginal 

 glands. Stamens in 3 somewhat indistinct sets, shorter than the petals ; anthers 

 yellow, orbicular, with a dark gland at the summit between the lobes ; pollen yel- 

 low. Styles 3, straight, spreading ; stigmas purple. Germen 3-lobeil, furrowed. 

 Capsules broadly ovoid, acutely triquetrous at top, mostly about as long as the 

 sepals, sometimes a little longer or shorter, streaked or puckered with numerous 

 longitudinal folds oi ridges, 3-celled. Seeds numerous, much smaller than in H. 

 hirsutum, and resembling rather those of H. qnadrangulum in size and sculpture, 

 dark brown verging on iron-gray, oblong-cylindrical, minutely and longitudinally 

 ribbed or striate, and reticulated. 



This species has many points in common with //. hirsutum, but is known with 

 facility from that and every other species of the genus by itsshoit, terminal, com- 

 pact, corymbose or subcapitate panicle, its large, distant, more pointed leaves, 

 and nearly simple stem. It is, as Sir James Smith remarks, a most elegant 

 though not ostentatious species, the glutinous dark fringes of its calyx and bracts 

 resembling, as he observes, the glands of a Moss Rose. Being always, however, 

 sparing in qiumtity even where it does occur, it contributes but little to the 



