Not a large family, mostly natives of temperate and warm regions.
Ours are herbs, sometimes shrubby, without stipules, with opposite,
toothless leaves, with clear or black dots; the flowers regular and
complete, all the parts borne on the receptacle; the sepals and petals
usually five; the stamens usually numerous, sometimes grouped in three
to five clusters; the ovary superior; the fruit a capsule.
There are many kinds of Hypericum, widely distributed; the leaves
without leaf-stalks, the flowers yellow, with three to six styles. This
is the ancient Greek name. These plants bloom in June, about St. John's
Day, and so tradition gives them magic properties, appropriate to the
Eve of that day, when fairies and witches are abroad, and they are
commonly called St. John's-wort.
[Sidenote: =St. John's-wort=
_Hypéricum concínnum_
=Yellow
Summer
California=]
This has very pretty flowers and grows from three to eighteen inches
tall, with smooth stems, branching and woody at base, and smooth,
rather bluish-green leaves, usually folded, not clasping at base,
usually with only a few dots. The flowers are an inch or more across,
with bright golden petals, with some black dots, and numerous stamens
in three bunches, forming large, fuzzy, golden centers. This grows on
dry hills and is supposed to be poisonous to sheep.
[Sidenote: =St. John's-wort=
_Hypéricum formòsum var. Scoúleri_
=Yellow
Summer
West=]
A pretty plant, from six inches to three feet tall, with a stiff stem,
often branching towards the top, and rather dull green leaves, blunt,
oblong and clasping at base, about an inch long, thin in texture, with
black dots on the margins. The flowers are from half an inch to an inch
across, with bright yellow petals, dotted with black, and are very
pretty, but not so handsome as the last. This grows in moist places,
chiefly in the mountains, and is common in Yosemite.
[Sidenote: =Creeping St. John's-wort=
_Hypéricum anagalloìdes_
=Orange
Summer
Northwest=]
An attractive little plant, only a few inches tall, with many weak,
slender, branching stems, spreading on the ground and rooting at the
joints, and small, smooth, light yellowish-green leaves, often tinged
with red. It grows in wet places and forms close mats of foliage,
sprinkled with light-orange or salmon-colored flowers, a quarter of an
inch or more across, with fifteen to twenty, yellow stamens. The effect
is something like Anagallis, Scarlet Pimpernel, hence the name. This is
common in Yosemite and similar places, up to nine thousand feet.
[Illustration: H. concinnum.
St. John's-wort--Hypericum formosum var. Scouleri.