HYPERICUM PERFORATUM. 
23 
ART. V.— ON HYPERICUM PERFORATUM. 
By Henry C. Blair. 
(Extract from Inaugural Thesis.) 
The root of the Hypericum perforatum is perennial, fusi- 
form, sometimes spiral, from three to six inches in length, and 
two or three lines in thickness, sending off a number of hori- 
zontal radicles about a line in thickness, which are frequently- 
much distorted. The recent root is of a light yellow colour, 
which becomes brown by drying. It consists of a thin corti- 
cal, and an internal white, very brittle ligneous portion. The 
stalk of the plant is from one to two feet in height, (generally 
about eighteen inches,) straight and erect, except the lower 
section, which is considerably curved. It is ligneous, and is 
covered with a thin membranous bark, of a dark brown colour, 
which may be easily separated from it. It sometimes em- 
braces at its junction with the root, the remains of the stalk of 
a preceding year. Not unfrequently, two or three stems arise 
from the same root. The upper branches are opposite and 
alternate, the interval between each pair being about one inch. 
In other respects they resemble the stalk. The lower or radi- 
cal branches differ, in their being vine-like and herbaceous. 
The leaves are six or eight lines in length, opposite and alter- 
nate, oval, oblong, obtuse, nerved, sessile, and entire. Their 
colour is light green, and on being held up to the light, nume- 
rous small transparencies, resembling punctures, may be per- 
ceived, from which characteristic the specific name of the 
plant is derived. The flowers are arranged in a terminal 
corymb. They are of a bright yellow colour, and consist of 
a calyx, which is divided into five equal parts, and a five 
petaled corolla, enclosing numerous stamina. The root of the 
St. John's Wort, on being well bruised, and digested in offici- 
nal alcohol for six or eight days, yields a light yellow tincture, 
which, when evaporated to the consistence of syrup, and suf- 
