Wild Flowers as They Grow 



is chiefly distinguished by having a downy coat on 

 its stems and along the veins on the under-side of 

 its leaves. Its leaves differ from H. perforatum in 

 having little stalks — those are stalkless — but are 

 like them in being marked all over the surface by 

 peUucid dots. If a leaf be held up to the light these 

 little clear spots can be seen looking almost Uke 

 perforations. Really they are glands containing an 

 oily, aromatic liquid, and it is suggested that the 

 plant develops them among the cells of its tender 

 green leaves to make the latter unpalatable to 

 browsing animals or leaf-loving insects, and hence 

 protects itself from the not impossible fate of being 

 eaten off the face of the earth. These spots caused 

 the St. John's Wort to be known as the herb of 

 war ; as a poet said long ago : 



" Hypericum was there, that herb of war, 

 Pierced through with wounds, and marked with many 

 a scar." 



Our picture well shows the handsome pyramid 



of pale yellow flowers that the plant bears. Now 



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