643 HYPER 
Although in the pvefent practice St. John’s wort is not 
much regarded, yet its fenfible qualities, and the repeated 
teftimonies of its virtues, entitle it, as Dr. Cullen obferves, 
to‘farther trials. To the tafte it is aftringent and bitter, 
and its effefts feem to be chiefly diuretic. From pofleff- 
ing properties which have been generally called balfamic, 
it has been ufed as a vulnerary in external wounds and 
internal haemorrhages : for the former purpofe the tops of 
the plant with the flowers are infilled in oil,- and for the 
latter an infufion of the plant is made in the manner of 
tea. It has likewife been given in ulcerations of the 
kidneys, and has even been fuppofed to polfefs virtues as 
a febrifuge. The 'leaves given in fubftance are faid to 
deftroy worms. The lemitranfparent dots on the leaves 
are the receptacles of an efiential oil. The flowers tinge 
fpirits and oils of a fine purple colour, which is probably 
derived from the little glands upon the anthers and edges 
of the petals. The dried plant boiled with alum dyes 
woo! of a yellow colour. The common people in France 
ancf Germany gather it with great ceremony on St. John’s 
. day; and hang it in their windows, as a charm againft 
florins, thunder, and evil fpirits ; miftaking the meaning 
of forne medical writers, who have fancifully given this 
plant the name of Fuga Damonum , from a fuppolition that 
it was good in maniacal and hypochondriacal diforders. 
In Scotland alfo it is carried about as a charm againft 
witchcraft and enchantment ; and they fancy it cures 
ropy milk, which they fuppofe to be under fome malignant 
influence, by milking afrefh upon the herb. Kine, goats, 
and flieep, eat it, but horfes and fwine refufe it. 
38. Hypericum duhium, or imperforate St.John’s wort: 
Item imperfectly four-edged, leaves blunt without pellu¬ 
cid dots, calycine leaflets elliptical. In habit, fize, and co¬ 
lour, it nearly agrees with the preceding, but differs ef- 
fentially in having no pellucid dots apparenton the leaves; 
and in the calycine leaflets being elliptical and obtufe. 
The latter indeed, and even the braCles, are fprinkled with 
pellucid dots and lines ; and the petals, as well as the 
edges of the leaves, are marked with opaque purple, as in 
that ; but the Item of this is in the upper partalmoft qua¬ 
drangular ; and it may be know’ll even before it comes 
out of the ground, by the much more vivid red of* the 
young (hoots. It is not, as Leers fufpeCts, the fame with 
H. perfoliatum of Linnaeus. Native of Germany, Dau- 
phine, and England ; probably of other countries, but un¬ 
noticed. Firft difcovered in England in July 1794., by 
Dr. John Seward, of Worcefter, growing plentifully about 
Sapen in that county, and afcertained by the Rev. Mr. 
Douglas to be H. dubium of Leers. Dr. Smith found it 
in Auguft 1795, about colonel Johnes’s, at Hafod, Cardi- 
ganftiire, and in Mr. Knight’s woods at Downton Caftle, 
near Ludlow. It flowers in July and Auguft. 
39. Hypericum humifufum, or trailing St. John’s 
wort: flowers axillary, lolitary; Items ancipital, prof- 
trate, filiform; leaves fmooth. Root perennial, yel- 
lowilh, fibrous ; items numerous, about half a foot in 
length, procumbent, round or fomewhat flatted, fcarce 
perceptibly two-edged, fmooth, reddifli, branched at top. 
This is the leaft of cur wild hypericums, fcarcely inferior 
to any in beauty and delicacy; and is not unfrequent in 
gravelly paftures, in fields that have long lain unfilled, on 
heaths, efpecially where the foil is moift and claye}', and 
fcmetimes in woods ; flowering from June to Auguft. It 
varies with leaves growing by threes. Scopoli fancies it, 
but furely without grounds, to be a monftrous variety of 
H. perforatum. 
4.0. Hypericum crifpum, or curled-leaved St.John’s wort: 
item round, leaves feflile, lanceolate, waved and toothed 
at the bafe. Leaves very minute, half ftem-clapfing, 
curled at the bafe, whence the trivial name. Native of 
Calabria, Sicily, and Greece. 
41. Hypericum linarifolium, ortoad-flax St. John’s wort: 
calyxes ferrate-glandular, Hem round, upright; leaves li¬ 
near, blunt, fmooth. Stem next the root woody, very 
fmooth and even, (lender, quite Ample, except that it is 
I C U M. 
fometimes branched at the bafe; the branches a foot long, 
nearly as high as. the (lent. Found by Vahl on heaths 
near Bayonne and in Navarre. 
4a. Hypericum montanum, or mountain St.John’s wort: 
calyxes acute ferrate-glandular; Item, round, upright ■, 
leaves oblong, fmooth, embracing, fharpifh. Stem upright, 
round, fmooth, about eighteen inches high, very little 
branched, and naked for a confiderable diftance under the 
flowers. Leaves few, in pairs, feflile, ovate, the upper 
ones ovate-lanceolate, with feven ribs, and a net-work of 
veins, the edges fet with black dots ; the upper leaves 
have numerous minute circular tranfparent dots, vifi- 
ble to the naked eye; but the lowermoft are dotted only 
towards the bafe. Native of many parts of Europe, in 
woods and thickets in high fituations.- In Britain, in 
Charlton-wood, Kent, and near Croydon in Surrey; Bath- 
hills, near Bungay, Suffolk; Stokenchurch, Henley, and 
Maple-Durham, Oxfordfhire; Perfhore and Bredon-hill, 
Worcefterfliire. Frequent in the weft of England : in An- 
glefea, Wales ; near Ingleton, Cartmelweil, and Furrtefs 
Fells, in the North ; and in Scotland, but not common. 
43. Hypericum barbatum, or bearded-flowered St. 
John’s wort : calyxes and petals ciliate and dotted, leaves 
dotted. Root perennial. Stem upright. Ample, linooth, 
round, about a foot high, tinged with purple. Leaves 
oblong-lanceolate, feflile, blunt, very fmooth, entire; 
thefe, with the calyx and petals, have black dots fcattered 
over them on both tides. Flowers terminating, few, with¬ 
out fmell. Seeds yellowifh. Native of Auilria, where it 
was round by Mygind and Boujart, in paftures by wood- 
fides; flowering in June, and perfecting feeds in July and 
Auguft. 
44. Hypericum glandulofum, or glandulous St. John’s 
wort : calyxes ferrate-glandular, leaves lanceolate, glan¬ 
dular at the edge ; Item fhrubby. Native of Maderia. 
It flowers from May to Auguft.- 
45. Hypericum hirfutum, or hairy St. John’s wort: ca¬ 
lyxes ferrate-glandular; Item round, upright; leaves ovate, 
fubpubefcent. It differs from common St.John’s wort in 
being taller, having the ftera perfectly round and hoary, 
and the edge of the calyx befet with black glands. It is 
alfo more apt to grow in woods and coppices, though it 
is frequently met with in hedges. Linnaeus fays, that 
the flowers clofe in the night, which thofe of H. perfora¬ 
tum do not. It flowers from June to Auguft. 
46. Hypericum tomentolum, or woolly St. John’s wort: 
calyxes ferrate-glandular, leaves half-ftem-clalping, flex- 
uole tomentofe ; Items proftrate. Native of the iouth of 
Europe. Introduced in 1772. by Monf. Reichard. It 
flowers from July to September. Ray obferved it about 
Montpellier, and in the illand of Malta, where water had 
ftagnated during winter. 
47. Hypericum perfoliatum, or perfoliate St. John’s 
■wort: • Item fubancipita?, leaves ilem-clapfing, ovate, cyme 
with feflile flowers. This is a native of Italy, and was 
introduced in 1785 by Mr. John Grrefer. It flowers in 
May and June. 
48. Hypericum elodes, marfh St. John’s wort, or St. Pe¬ 
ter’s wort: item round, creeping, villofe; leaves villofe, 
roundifh. This, as Linnaeus obferves, is very nearly related 
to his H. tomentofum; which however differs in having ob¬ 
long leaves, the veins of which fpring from the midrib, 
and not from the. bafe, a muchlarger and more compound 
panicle, the calyx and ftamens more deeply divided, the 
former bearing black or purple glands. Befides England, 
this fpecies has not been obferved as a native, except in 
the .northern part of France. With us it is not uncom¬ 
mon in bogs; as on Hayes-common in Kent, Derfingham- 
moor near Lynn, and other bogs in Norfolk; Gamlingay 
bogs in Cambridgefhire, Birmingham-heath in Corn¬ 
wall, &c. 
49. Hypericum pulchrum, or elegant St. John’s wort: 
calyxes lerrate-glandular, Hem round, leaves ftem-clafping, 
cordate, fmooth. The whole p.lant is fmooth. Stems 
from one to two feet high, upright, round, often red, 
1 thinly 
