DICOTYLEDONOUS PLANTS 149 



HYPERICUM, L. 



Herbs, shmbs, or small trees. Leaves sessile, often dotted. 

 Flowers yellow, perfect. 



1. H. perforatum, L. Common St. Johnswort. Perennial. 

 Stem erect, 1-3 ft. high, 2-ridged, much branched. Leaves linear or 

 oblong, obtuse, with translucent veins and dots. Cymes grouped in 

 corymbs, many-flowered. Flowers 1 in. in diameter. Sepals acute. 

 Petals much longer than the sepals, oblique at the tip and irregularly 

 fringed. A common weed in meadows and pastures E. and N. 



2. H. nudicaule, Walt. Orange-grass, Pine-weed. Low (4-9 in. 

 high), slender annual, with erect, angled or almost winged wiry stem 

 and branches. Leaves minute, awl-shaped scales. Corolla about 

 ^ in. in diameter, usually closing by or before midday. Sandy 

 banks and roadsides. 



66. VIOLACE.S;. Violet Family. 



Herbs, with simple, alternate leaves, with stipules. Calyx 

 of 5 persistent sepals. Corolla of 5 petals, somewhat irreg- 

 ular, one petal with a spur. Stamens 5, short, the filaments 

 often cohering around the pistil (Fig. 17). Style generally 

 club-shaped, with a one-sided stigma, with an opening leading 

 to its interior. Pod 1-celled, splitting into 3 valves, each 

 bearing a placenta. The seeds are often dispersed by the 

 splitting of the elastic valves (Fig. 17). 



VIOLA, Toum. 



Sepals ear-like at the base. Petals somewhat irregular, 

 some of them bearded within, thus affording a foothold for 

 bees, the lowest one with a spur at the base. Stamens not 

 cohering very much, the two lowermost with spurs which 

 reach down into the spur of the lowest petal. Many species 

 bear inconspicuous apetalous flowers later than the showy 

 ordinary ones and produce most of their seed from these 

 closed, self-fertilized flowers. (See .Part I, Ch. XXVIII.) 



