John's Worts is commonly employed by dyers in Quito, to give that colour to wool. A few of the plants of this order are tropical, but it consists chiefly of herbs, growing among hedges and trees in the cooler parts of Europe and Asia. The genus Parnassia is by many botanists included in this order, but its place is doubtful, and some writers refer it to the Sundew tribe. It differs from the St. John's Worts, in not having opposite leaves, in its fewer stamens, as well as in various other particulars. 1. HYPERICUM (St. John's Wort).-Sepals 5; petals 5; stamens numerous, filaments united at the base in 3 or 5 sets styles 3, or rarely 5; capsule 3-celled. Name from Hypericon, the Greek name of the plant. 2. PARNÁSSIA (Grass of Parnassus).-Calyx deeply 5-cleft; petals 5; stamens 5, with fringed scales interposed; stigmas 4; capsule 1-celled, with 4 valves. Named from Mount Parnassus. 1. HYPERICUM (St. John's Wort). 1. H. calycinum (Large-flowered St. John's Wort).— Stems square, branched, and single-flowered; segments of the calyx unequal; leaves oblong and blunt. Plant perennial. This shrub is found apparently wild in some bushy places, as at Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. Though growing also at Cork without culture, it is probably there a naturalized plant, as it is doubtless in many parts of the kingdom, having been long a common ornament of gardens and shrubberies. It is generally about three or four feet in height, bearing, from July to September, large handsome yellow flowers, with the conspicuous bundles of numerous golden anthers, which, like the blossoms of all the species, have a strong odour of resin, especially when bruised. There is often much redness on the leaves of this plant. **Styles 3, sepals not fringed. - 2. H. Androsæmum (Common Tutsan). Stem 2 edged and shrubby; leaves egg-shaped, sessile; sepals unequal; capsule pulpy, and like a berry. The only two counties of England in which this Tutsan is common are Devon and Cornwall, though it occurs occasionally in others, and the author has found it at Higham, in Kent. It is frequent in Ireland and the West of Scotland. It is a handsome shrub, very strongly scented, and the leaves, as well as the glossy, berry-like capsule, much tinted with red in autumn. The flowers are numerous and showy, of bright golden yellow, expanding in July. This species is about two or three feet high, and is often called Park-leaves. It was once much esteemed as a vulnerary, and its leaves laid on wounds. Its common English name is a corruption of Toute-saine, All-heal. 3. H. quadrángulum (Square-stalked St. John's Wort). -Stem herbaceous, erect, with four somewhat winged angles, branched; leaves oblong, egg-shaped, with pellucid dots; sepals erect, lanceolate. Plant perennial. This species grows commonly in damp places, having stems one or two feet high, and flat panicles of yellow flowers. It blossoms in July and August. 4. H. perforátum (Perforated St. John's Wort).-Stem herbaceous, erect, 2-edged; leaves elliptic-oblong, copiously perforated with pellucid dots; sepals erect, lanceolate acute. Plant perennial. During the months of July and August, and often as late as the end of September, the golden blossoms of this plant are commonly seen in woods and hedges, on grassy banks, or in shady lanes. Several of the species are blooming at the same season, and their general aspect is very similar, but this is the most frequent kind, and is well distinguished by the marked character of its two-edged stems. A lovely plant it is, with its wealth of golden flowers growing on a branched stem one or two feet high, and having its yellow petals profusely dotted with black. The leaves are strongly ribbed, and of delicate green, reddening somewhat with age, and full of clear dots, easily seen if we hold the leaf up to the light. The flowers have a sweet scent of lemon, mixed with resin, and if we grasp them, they leave a yellow stain on our fingers. They will tinge spirits and oil of a rich purple colour, and if dried and boiled with alum, they dye wool of a fine yellow hue. Those pellucid dots in the foliage are full of an essential oil, which, indeed, pervades the whole plant, and which is aromatic and astringent. The flowers are made into gargles, lotions, and salves; and some good botanists recommend that further trial should be made of their remedial powers. The author has much faith in the efficacy of ointment made from St. John's Wort, and could go willingly now, as she did in the days of childhood, over dale and hill, to bear away a basketful of its blossoms for domestic use. The plants, |