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HYPERICUM perforatum.
Perforated St. Johns Wort.
/ b f .
P O L T A D E L P H IA Polyandria,
Gen. C h ar. Cal. 5-cleft. Petals 5, Filaments numerous,
united at the bafe into 3 or 5 fets. Cap^
fu le roundifh.
S p e c . C h a r . Styles three, Stem two-edged. Leaves
obtufe, fprinkled with pellucid dots, Calyx-leaves
lanceolate.
S y n . Hypericum perforatum. Linn. Sp. PI. 1105,
Hudf. FI. An. 333. With. Bot. Arr. 813. Relh,
Cant. 288. Sibth. Ox. 234. Curt. Lond. Fafc. i f
if. 57. Woodv. Med. Bot. 25. t. 10,
Hypericum. Rail Syn> 342,
A n extremely common plant in groves, thickets, and under
hedges, flowering about July and Auguft.
Its woody creeping perennial roots make it very difficult to
be extirpated. They throw up numerous Items, about two feet
high, perfectly erect, leafy, roundifh, but marked with two prominent
lines running down from the infertion of every pair of
leaves, which render the Item two-edged. Leaves oppofite, each
pair croffing thofe below them, oblong, fomewhat elliptical,
bluntiffi, entire, with one main rib and feveral flraight veins
fpringing from it, paler and fomewhat glaucous beneath,
fprinkled with numerous green pellucid dots, eafily feen when
held againft the light, and marked befides with a few dark
purple opaque dots, efpecially on the margin. A ffiort Ample
leafy branch arifes from the bofom of each leaf, the upper ones
bearing flowers, and forming a forked leafy panicle terminating
the Item. The flowers are bright yellow, and not inelegant.
Calyx-leaves lanceolate, pointed, entire. Petals entire
at one edge, crenate at the other. Anthers; tipped with a dark
purple gland. Stigmas whitiffi in our fpecimens, though by
fome writers defcribed as crimfon. The edges of the calyx and
petals, as well as their external furface, are marked with dark
purple fpots and lines, containing a red efl'ential oil foluble in
fpirits, but the aromatic qualities of the herb appear not to be
confined to thefe fpots.