St. 3obn'6=*Mort Jfamil^. 



Lesser St. John's- Wort. Hypericum maculatum. 



Found in damp, weedy thickets and fields, during July and 

 August. 



The slender, very round, .fine-fibred stalk, from 12 to 18 inches 

 high, is noticeably erect in gesture, and bears short angular branches. 

 Its green is often tinged with a ruddy color. 



The leaf is oblong, with an entire margin, and smooth, fine tex- 

 ture ; the perforations are not conspicuous, and the color is a full green. 

 The arrangement is in pairs. 



The 5 petals of the small flower are sharp-pointed, thin, and yellow, 

 faintly marked with black lines which show more strongly on the out- 

 side than on the inside of the corolla ; the calyx is greenish and 5-parted. 

 The flowers, on short stems, form terminal groups. 



This little plant's habits are in marked contrast to its larger 

 brother John, for it is as tidy in rolling up into tiny bundles its faded 

 petals, as the other is careless of appearances. Though its flower is less 

 conspicuous, the reward, when the plant matures, more than compen- 

 sates, for as early as mid-July the upper surface of the leaves take on a 

 beautiful crimson flush that mingles with the green of the underside, 

 while the stalk becomes a slender wand of scarlet. 



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