PARK AND CEMETERY. 
1 68 
THE HYPERICUM. 
The Hypericum comes after our spring and 
early summer garden flowers are gone and autumn 
has not yet assumed its color. The passing of the 
dog-star sees few summer flowers, but they, evi- 
dently feeling their responsibility, seem trying to 
glow the more brightly. The Hypericum helps to fill 
this vacant space and its brilliancy in part atones 
for the absence of many milder flowers. 
The Hypericum as a group does not belong to 
our climate. It belongs rather to the south tem- 
perate zone, and in America, the Middle and South- 
ern states seem most its home. Hence, most 
American species do not succeed at the north, and 
as most European forms also do not take kindly to 
our climate, only a few kinds remain and they 
mostly native which we may consider at all trust- 
worthy friends. 
As they have 
little value as 
cut flowers, few 
if any have 
found their way 
into our green- 
houses. 
The Hyperi- 
cum is a genus 
of about two 
hundred s p e- 
cies, all shrubs, 
sufifruticose 
forms or sub- 
shrubs and per- 
ennial herbs, 
none in cultiva- 
tion here taller 
than four or five 
feet; assuming 
all variations inhabit from erect to prostrate; having 
simple lanceolate or ovate leaves and blooming from 
the latter part of July to the first of September in 
flower-clusters of a brilliant yellow. All species 
are of simple culture succeeding in almost any gar- 
den soil but generally preferring a light warm land, 
hence useful in sandy soils, blooming later and for 
a longer time if partly in the shade. They are 
propagated by seeds, suckers, cuttings and by 
strong pieces of the creeping rooted kinds. 
In use, some species are more or less stiff and 
formal, and require to be treated as garden-shrubs, 
while others are freer and are appropriate to greater 
informality. They eannot, however, be regarded 
wholly as an “unmixed blessing” for their principal 
use is to give a dash of color in late summer and 
remain unobtrusive the rest of the year, and they 
are not of a character to please if found too plenti- 
fully and exclusively. They have not the all- 
round character of the Viburnum and their general 
lack of hardiness is much against them. They are 
so strong in color that they require to be toned 
down by a surrounding mass of green as in a 
shrubby or herbaceous border. The smaller spec- 
ies are useful as rock plants. Unfortunately as a 
group they are short-lived and six or seven years 
end the enjoyment which one individual can give. 
The following are the kinds of value in cultiva- 
tion: 
Androsauniim, the Sweet Amber or Common 
Tutsan of Western Europe, is a dense under shrub 
one and a half to three feet high with erect stem, 
large ovate leaves four inches long and flowers in 
cymose clusters. It is a half hardy plant not en- 
during our northern winters, but where it does suc- 
ceed it is one of 
the best in fruit 
and foliage but 
its flowers are 
not particularly 
attractive. In 
its native state 
it seeks shady 
wet places. It 
differs from the 
other members 
of the genus in 
that the fruit is 
a berry instead 
of a dry capsule. 
Ascyron, the 
Great or Giant 
St. John’s Wort, 
a perennial two 
to six feet high. 
I he peculiarity 
of this somewhat coarse and ungainly plant is that it 
is native to both North America and Northern 
i\sia. It stands erect, branching slightly toward 
the summit from a tetragonal stem. The flowers 
are in cymes and large, two inches wide, with nar- 
row petals, thin, twisted and curiously shaped. 
The leaves are large and partially clasping. Toward 
fall the plant is apt to become unsightly through 
the lower leaves dying and remaining. 
Anreum, a somewhat formal shrub, held in hiah 
regard for its hardiness, its round, compact and 
perfect shape and its large brilliant flowers. Were 
it not that the petals remain and wither before the 
fall, it is said that it would be one of the best of 
all shrubs, but its hard outline and general stiffness 
forbids that although it is a good shrub. It is three 
to four feet Irgh and in its natural condition at the 
south seeks rocky situations, geneialiy shady where 
