2 



HYPERICUM HYSSOPIFOLIUM. 



The several species of Hypericum., or St. John's Wort, have handsome yellow 

 flowers, many of which are exceedingly ornamental in shrubberies. They are 

 resiniferous in their properties, and have, for the most part, a strong disagreeable 

 odour when bruised, and an astringent, bitter taste. Hence some of them have 

 been used for medicinal purposes from an early period. Hypericum perforatum, a 

 common, though handsome species, is the Fuga Dcemonum of old herbalists, and 

 is a plant formerly held in great estimation for its supposed influence in con- 

 jurations and enchantments ; and it is said that the peasants of France and 

 Germany, even in the present day, gather it with great ceremony on St. John's 

 Day, believing it to be a preservative against thunder. In Scotland persons 

 formerly carried it about their persons as a charm against witchcraft. 



The following lines, alluding to a custom which prevails in Lower Saxony, 

 were originally translated from a German Almanac : — 



ST. JOHN'S WORT. 



The young maid stole thro' the cottage door, 

 And blush'd as she sought the plant of power ;— 

 Thou silver glow-worm, oh ! lend me thy light, 

 I must gather the mystic St. John's Wort to-night; 

 The wonderful herb, whose leaf will decide, 

 If the coming year shall make me a bride. 



And the glow-worm came, 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Thro' the night of St. John, 

 And soon has the young maid her love-knot tied . 



With noiseless tread 

 To her chamber she sped, 

 Where the spectral moon her white beams sheds : 

 " Bloom here, bloom here, thou plant of power, 

 To deck the young bride in her bridal hour ! " 

 But it droop'd its head — that plant of power — 

 And died the mute death of the voiceless flower ; 

 And a wither'd wreath on the ground it lay, 

 More meet for a burial than bridal day. 



And when a year had pass'd away, 



All pale on her bier the young maid lay ! 



And the glow-worm came, 



With its silvery flame, 



And sparkled and shone 



Thro' the night of St. John, 

 And they closed the cold grave on the maid's cold clay. 



Fig. 1, germ, with its three styles ; 2, vertical section of the capsule, showing 

 the arrangement of seeds. 



