414 



2.5. HYPEPvICtTM MONTANUM. [CL. XVIII. 



ers in the panicle, only a pair is always quite open: they 

 consist of five oblique, entire, citron-yellow leaflets. From 

 the bottom of the calyx rise the yellow filaments, in indeter- 

 minate number, and in three bundles : they carry oval anthe- 

 rse, likewise of a yellow colour, and are for the most part 

 longer than the petals. The germen is superior, and carries 

 three remote pistilla, with button-shaped stigmata. After 

 flowering, the corolla withers, without falling off, and be- 

 comes somewhat twisted, for its aestivation is complex. The 

 fruit is a three-lobed capsule, the valves of which form 

 double dissepimenta with their inverted margins. The nume- 

 rous fine seeds contain the embryon evolved^ with albuminous 

 substance. 



Diagnosis and Affinity. 



The species most related to this is the H. elegans Willd., 

 {Kolilianum Ft. Hal.) But this is distinguished — by its 

 shrubby stem, which with us is seldom longer than a small 

 span, — by its leaves, which, being much smaller, are furnish- 

 ed on the margin, n(>t with black, but with bright points, and 

 have their margins for the most part reversed. This species is 

 limited iii Germany to a single calcareous hill. But it grows 

 also in Volhynia, where it is an ell in length, and in Siberia. 

 H. perfoliatum L. or ciliatum Willd. has a two-edged stem, 

 and pellucid points in the leaves, which embrace the stalk. 

 Of exactly the same nature is the structure of H. TJiomasii 

 from Calabria. It has cordate leaves, completely embracing 

 the stem, furnished with bright points, and pellucid cartilagi- 

 nous margins, an obtuse quadrangular stem, the bract ese and 

 the leaves of the calyx completely set round^with glands having 

 stalks. Very much resembling our plant is also H. macula- 

 turn Wall. Mich. ; but here also the stem and the petals are 

 furnished with dark points. The panicle is expanded, with 

 branches distant from one another, and forming together 

 an umbel. H. corymbosum Willd., and punctatum Lam., 

 belong to this species. But H, punctatum Willd. seems to 

 be a different species, although one that is related to H. mon~ 

 tanum. The dark points shew themselves through tlie whole 



3 



