HYPERICACE^E. (ST. JOHN's-WORT FAMILY.) 83 



4. D. filiformis, Raf. (Thread-leaved Sundew.) Leaves very long 

 and filiform, erect, Avith no distinction between blade and stalk ; seeds spindle- 

 shaped ; flowers numerous, purple rose-color (^' broad). — Wet sand, near the 

 coast, Plymouth, Massachusetts to New Jersey, and southward. Aug. — • 

 Scapes 6' -12' high, and the singular leaves nearly as long, from a bulb-like 

 base or corm. 



Dion1:a muscipula, Ellis, the Venus's Fly-trap, — so noted for the ex- 

 traordinary irritability of its leaves, closing quickly at the touch, — is a native 

 of the sandy savannas of the eastern part of North Carolina. It differs in 

 several respects from the character of the order given above ; the stamens being 

 15, the styles united into one, and the seeds all at the base of the pod. 



Order 16. HYPEBICACEiE. (St. John's- wort Family.) 



Herbs or shrubs, with opposite entire dotted leaves and no stipules, regular 

 hjpog'ynous flowers, the petals mostly oblique and convolute in the bud, and 

 •many or few stamens commonly collected in 3 or more clusters or bundles. 

 Pod l-celled with 2-5 parietal placentas, and as many styles, or 3- 1-celled 

 by the union of the placentae in the centre : dehiscence mostly septicidal. — 

 Sepals 4 or 5, imbricated in the bud, herbaceous, persistent. Petals 4 or 

 5, mostly deciduous. Styles persistent, at first sometimes united. Seeds 

 numerous, small, anatropous, with no albumen. Embryo cylindrical. — 

 Plants with a resinous juice (acrid and balsamic), dotted with pellucid or 

 dark glands, usually smooth. Leaves mostly sessile. Flowers solitary or 

 cymose. 



1. Ascyrum. Sepals 4, very unequal. Petals 4, oblique, convolute, yellow. 



2. Hypericum. Sepals 5. Petals 5, oblique, convolute, yellow. 



3. El odes. Sepals 5. Petals 5, equal-sided, imbricated, purplish. Glands alternating with 



the stamen-clusters. 



1. ASCYRUM, L. St. Peter's-wort. 



Sepals 4 ; the 2 outer very broad and leaf-like ; the inner much smaller. 

 Petals 4, oblique, very deciduous, convolute in the bud. Stamens numerous ; 

 the filaments distinct and scarcely in clusters. Pod strictly 1-celled, 2-4- 

 valved. — Low, rather shrubby, smooth plants, with pale black-dotted leaves, 

 and nearly solitary light yellow flowers. (An ancient Greek name of some 

 plant, from a, without, and o-Kvpos, roughness.) 



1. A. St&ns, Michx. (St. Peter's-wort.) Stem rather simple, 2-edged, 

 l°-2° high, stout; leaves oval or oblong, somewhat clasping, thickish ; petals 

 obovate ; styles 3 or 4. — Pine barrens, Long Island to Penn. and southward. 

 July. Aug. — Flowers showy, almost sessile : outer sepals round-heart-shaped. 



2. A. Crux-Andreee, L. (St. Andrew's Cross.) Low, much 

 branched and decumbent ; leaves narrowly obovate-oblong , contracted at the base, 

 thin ; petals linear-oblong ; styles 2, very short ; pod flat. — Pine barrens, New 

 Jersey to Illinois, and southward. July -Sept. — Petals scarcely exceeding 

 the outer sepals, approaching each other in pairs over them, in the form of a 

 St. Andrew's cross. 



