POLYANDRIA DI-PENTAGYXIA 821 



common petiole dilated, and with a scarious margin, at base ; leaflets smooth, glau, 

 cous beneath, an inch to an inch and a half long, 3-parted (upper ones simple), 

 segments cunuatc-oblonsr, spreading, trifid and crenatcly incised at apex, with 

 the serratures obtuse, petioles slender. Flouers terminal on the branches, nod- 

 din* Sepals lance-ovate, acute, longer than the petals, purple externally, yellow- 

 ish within. Petals hollow, open at throat, produced downwards into a straight 

 acuminate spur nearly an inch long, slightly curved and callous at the point, 

 purplish bcljw, yellowish at summit. Stamens longer than the sepals, yellow. 

 Ovaries pubescent; styles very slender, mostly a little longer than the stamens. 



Hob. Rocky banks of streams; Brandy wine: frequent. Fl. May. /V.July. 



Obs. Probably the only native species in tho U. Slates. The A. vulgaris, how- 

 ever, is almost naturalized about our gardens. 



255. ASCYRUM.Z. Nutt. Gen. 475. 

 [Greek, a, privative, and Skyros, roughness ; the plant being smooth to the touch.] 



Calyx of 4 persistent sepals ; the 2 outer ones large and foliaceous, the 

 2 inner ones small, membranaceous. Petals 4. Stamens somewhat 

 polyadelphous. Ovary superior; styles 1 to 3 or 4. Capsule ob- 

 long, 1- celled, 2 or 3-va'vcd, embraced by the calyx. Seeds numerous. 



Shrubby, or svffruticose^ leaves opposite, sessile, entire, punctate; flowers 

 terminal, solitary, or corymbose. Nat. Orel. 3G. Lindl. Hypericike*. 



1. A. Crux Akdmjb, L. Stems numerous, diffuse, shrubby, terete ; 

 branches erect, suffruticose, ancipital ; leaves obovate-oblong, obtuse, 

 narrowed at base; corymbs terminal ; styles 2. Beck, Hot. p. 62. 



A. multicaule. Mx. Am. 2. p. 77. Bart. Phil. 2. p. 13. Also, mild. 

 Sp. 3. p. 1472, Pers. Syn. 2. p. 81. JShihl. CataLp. 68. 

 A. hypertcoides. .lit. Jfew.4. p. 430. Not ? of Willd. Pursh, Ell. Uc 

 A^drew's-Cross Asctrum:. Vulgd — St. Peter's Wort* 



Stemdlo IS inches high, diffusely branching from the base; young branches 

 assurgent or erect, slender, two-edged. Leaves half an inch to 3 quarters in length, 

 and about 1 fourth of an inch wide, imro or less obovale, or oblanceolate, smooth, 

 with numerous dark-colored dots on both sides, mostly with a small glandular ex- 

 crescence on each margin at base, and often with a fascicle of small leaves in the 

 axils. Flowers in terminal few-flowered corymbs, and subterminal from the axils, 

 on short peduncles, with 2 opposite subulate bracts below the calyx. Outer sepals 

 leaflike, 1 third to near half an inch long, elliptic-ovate, rather acute, obscurely ner. 

 ved, dotted ; tuner sepals very small, lance-ovate, acute, membranaceous. Petals 

 yellow, linear-elliptic, or oblong, nerved, rather longer than the large sepalr. 

 Stamc?is as long as the ovary, slightly united in parcels at base. Ovary oblong ; 

 styles 2, short, erect. Capsule compressed, ovate-oblong, striate. 2-valved. Seeds 

 small, oblong, cylindric, obtuse at each end, slightly rugose-pitted, of a dark 

 greenish brown, or livid color, 



Ilab. Valley hill, N. of the Ship tavern: rare. Fl. July— Aug, Fr. Sept— Octo. 



Obs. Collected by D. Townsend, Esq. in 1830. Our plant appears to bo the 

 var. an gtisti folium, of Xutt. and DC— and I have a suspicion that the A. hyperi* 

 coides, L. and the A. stans, Mx. are not specifically distinct. The Authors to 

 whom I have access {Alton and Elliott excepted) speak of the outer scjxils being 

 smaller,— which seems to me to be a palj)able mistake. Three or four additional 

 species aro enumerated in the U. States. 





