Hypericinece.\ 
THE COLONY OP VICTORIA. 
193 
HYPERICUM. 
Tournef. Tnstit. 128.—St. John’s Wort. 
Sepals 5, very seldom 4, free or at the base united, persistent. Petals 5, rarely 4, usually inequi¬ 
lateral. Stamens many , more or less connate into bundles , seldom free or few. Hypogynous scales 
wanting. Ovules numerous, arranged in two or more rows, seldom few. Styles 3-5, rarely 2 or 6, 
filiform, entirely or upwards free. Capsule one-celled, with 3-5 parietal placentae, or 3-5-celled by 
the placentae meeting in the axis, very rarely 2- or 6-celled. Seeds many, rarely few, very rarely one 
in each cell. Testa scrobiculate or reticulate or furrowed, closely surrounding the nucleus or wing¬ 
like expanded. Albumen none. Embryo cylindrical. Cotyledons shorter than the radicle. 
Herbs, half-shrubs or shrubs, occurring in almost every part of the globe, especially numerous 
in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere, some extending to alpine elevations although 
hone seemingly to the polar regions. Leaves herbaceous or coriaceous, sessile or petiolate, opposite or 
rarely verticillate, entire or slightly toothed, often dotted with pellucid glands. Inflorescence varied. 
Sepals entire or at the margin glandulous or fimbriate. Petals yellow, more or less unguiculate. 
Stamens persistent or deciduous. Styles short or elongated. Divisions of the capsule, when carpellar 
by complete development of the septa, splitting along the inner edge, rarely opening only by a fora¬ 
men. Valves sometimes nerved or papillose. Form of placentae very varied.— Endl. Gen. 1032. 
Hypericum gramineum, Forst. Prodr . 281; LciVill. Sert. Austro-Caledon. 53, t. 53; J. Hook. 
FI. Nov. Zeel. i. 36; FI. Tasm. i. 53; H. Japonicum, Thunb. FI. Japon. 295, t. 31; Foyle , Flustr. 24; J. 
Hook. FI. Tasm. i. 53; H. involution, Clioisy , Prodr. Hyp. 50 ; H. pusillum, Choisy , l. c. ; H. pedicellare, 
Endl. in Emm. Plant. Huey. p. 12; Aseyrum involutum, Labxll. Nov. Holl. Plant. Specim. ii. 32, t. 174; 
A. pusillum, Lab. I. c. ii. 33, t. 175; Brathys Billardierii, Sjmch, in Annal. des Scienc. Nat. ser. ii. v. 367. 
Glabrous; stem herbaceous, quadrangular; leaves sessile, verging* from oval to oblong* and oblong- 
lanceolate, entire, pellucidly dotted; inflorescence leafy, more or less cymose or racemose or paniculate, or 
with a few or a single terminal flowers; sepals lanceolate , acute, entire, nearly equal, always appressed; 
petals entire; filaments persistent, almost free; styles 3, short, disconnected; capsule oval-ellipsoid, pointed, 
smooth, one-celled , three-valved; placentce narrow-linear, sutural; seeds numerous, fulvous, oval-ellipsoid ; 
testa clathrate. 
In pasture land as well as in barren localities, common throughout the colony, ascending* to the 
Australian Alps; further of rather general distribution over the other parts of the Australian Continent, over 
Tasmania, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Southern and Eastern Asia. 
An erect, ascendent or half-procumbent herb, attaining a height of about 2 feet, usually, however, of 
lower growth, sometimes reduced to extreme dwarfness. Hoot perennial, more or less ramified and fibril- 
liferous, often creeping. Stems usually below simple, upwards dichotomously branched, sometimes, however, 
quite simple, in other instances ramified from the base and less regularly dichotomous. Leaves opposite, 
opaque, flat or at the margin reflexed, often somewhat clasping at the base; the lower ones generally more 
closely approximated and shorter than the upper ones; in luxuriant specimens attaining rather more than 1 
inch length and nearly J inch width; in the small variety only from 1| to a few lines long, never very acute, 
oftener blunt; the midnerve beneath slightly prominent; the veins obscured. Cyme simple or compound 
or reduced to a few dispersed flowers, or the pedicels partially arranged alternately along the branches into 
leafy racemes. Pedicels very variable in length, sometimes almost obliterated, usually longer than the floral 
leaf, and from a few fines to about 1 inch long, slender filiform. Sepals broad- or narrow-lanceolate, 1J-4 
fines long, nerved. Petals orange- or deep-yellow, extremely tender, oblique-obovate, not much longer than 
2 B 
