THE MARSH ST. JOHN’S-WORT— continued. 
storage tissue and the hairs a means of diminishing transpiration. On normally 
wet heaths, such as that of Studland in Dorsetshire, we have seen large patches of 
this species destroyed by summer drought. 
As the blossoms do not appear till July or the close of June, this species is 
appropriately one of those for which the name St. Peter’s-wort was proposed by 
sixteenth-century writers ; but, though many popular names have in their origin 
been merely book-names, when one of these literary proposals fails to secure the 
sanction of genuinely popular usage it remains merely a book-name, whatever its 
antiquity. The flowers are produced in terminal and axillary, trichasial, few- 
flowered cymes, each of them being about half an inch across and of a pale yellow 
colour, with none of the gloss or almost metallic sheen of the Common St. John’s- 
wort ( H . perforatum Linne) and many of the other species. The petals have green 
midribs down their external surfaces and only expand in bright weather. The 
sepals are ovate, blunt, and glabrous, with the exception of a pretty marginal fringe 
of short red glandular hairs, which are presumably a protection against crawling 
insects. Since the flowers are homogamous, self-pollination probably often takes 
place ; but the apparently nectariferous glands, the comparatively small amount of 
pollen produced, and the exclusion of crawling insects, all point to at least 
occasional crossing by flying ones. 
The first mention of this species as British seems to be that by Thomas Johnson 
in his “ emaculate ” edition of Gerard’s “ Herball ” (1633), where he states that 
“ Ascyrum supinum (\dS r)s ... is to be found upon divers boggy grounds of this kingdome.” 
Both v Ao-Kvpov i Askuron, used for St. John’s-worts generally, and the adjective 
e\a> 8 rj<;, helodes, swampy, are Classical Greek words, while supinum means pro- 
cumbent or trailing ; so that Johnson’s name is an apt one. 
Besides the three species here figured, ten or twelve others occur in Britain, 
while the European species number forty-seven. Several of these latter are in 
cultivation, as are also a few Japanese, Asiatic, and North American species. They 
prefer a rich sandy loam but will grow in any ordinary garden soil, and are readily 
reproduced by seed, by cuttings, or by dividing the rhizomes. They are all 
perennials and many of them retain their leaves through the winter. One of the 
handsomest is the Rose of Sharon ( Hypericum calycinum Linne), a native of the 
Mediterranean region, naturalised in many shrubberies in England. It has low- 
growing, four-angled stems, about a foot high, large ovate, leathery leaves twisted 
into one plane, and magnificent terminal golden blossoms three inches in diameter. 
