with glandular dots near the margin; sepals acute, fringed with shortly-stalked glands. Plant perennial. This is not an unfrequent plant in hilly limestone districts, where there is a growth of underwood; and it also occurs on many chalky or gravelly soils, flowering in July and August. Its stem is about two feet high; the leaves are rather large and distant. Though the yellow petals are without glands, the calyx and bracts are beautifully fringed with them, and form a very distinctive mark in this species from any of those yet described. The glands, which abound in the genus Hypericum, as well as in many other plants, contain in all this family a deep red juice in the cells. Glands may be described as cellular bodies containing some peculiar secretion, and situated on or below the thin skin or cuticle which covers the surface of the plant. Stalked glands are very singular objects, being elevated on a little stalk, which is in some cases simple, in others branched. Link described them as either simple or compound, the former being composed of a single cell, and placed upon a hair acting as a direct conduit, occasionally interrupted by divisions; the latter kind consisting of several cells, and seated upon a stalk, containing several conduits; and thus these delicate dots are seen by the microscopic observer to have a most perfect and beautiful structure.

8. H. hirsutum (Hairy St. John's Wort).—Stem erect, nearly round, downy; leaves egg-shaped or oblong, downy beneath, slightly stalked. Plant perennial. This species, which grows in woods and thickets on limestone soils, is well marked by the downy nature of its some

what large leaves. Its general aspect much resembles that of the Mountain species. It flowers in June and July.

9. H. pulchrum (Small Upright St. John's Wort).— Stem erect, round, smooth; leaves heart-shaped, clasping the stem, smooth; sepals obtuse, fringed with sessile glands; petals fringed with glands. Plant perennial. This is a very slender plant, bearing many flowers at the top of its stem. It may, indeed, like some of the other species, be described as it was by Cowper,

Hypericum, all bloom;" for in May and June its loose panicles are so conspicuous that we hardly notice its small leaves. The flowers are deep yellow, often tinged, as well as the stem, with red; while the red anthers, and the young buds tipped externally with a rich carmine tint, render them very attractive. The stem is very slender, and sometimes two feet high, and the leaves few and scattered. The sessile glands, or glands without stalks, occur in various parts of plants. They vary much in form, being in some cases conical, and in some, as in the Cruciferous plants, little roundish shining bodies. In some plants, as the Acacias, they are tiny hollows, surrounded by a thickened rim; in others, they are kidney-shaped, or of some other form.

10. H. elódes (Marsh St. John's Wort).-Stem creeping, branches erect; leaves roundish, and, as well as the stems, densely covered with shaggy down. Plant perennial. Mr. Johns, in his "Flowers of the Field," justly remarks of this plant, that "it may be detected at some distance by the hoariness of its foliage, and by the strong, and far from pleasant, resinous odour which it

emits, especially in hot weather." This scent is indeed. very strong, and is, in the opinion of the author, more disagreeable than that of any other species, being altogether destitute of that lemon-like perfume which mingles with the resinous odour of the Perforated and some other kinds. The flowers of this species are of a pale yellow colour; they are few, and expand in July and August. Reddish-coloured glandular serratures fringe its calyx, and its stamens are fifteen in number. Though rare in Scotland, it is not unfrequent on the spongy bogs of England. It appears to be the plant called by earlier botanists Ascyron tomentosum palustre. Dr. Vaughan, in a letter to the great naturalist John Ray, remarks: "I much wonder that this plant has not been taken more notice of in physic, for I look upon it to be one of the best balsamic astringent plants we have; the native Irish call it Birin yarragh." As none of the species have a stronger odour than this, it is not improbable that it possesses more powerful properties than any of the other plants of the

genus. 11. H. linarifólium (Linear-leaved St. John's Wort).Stems erect; leaves narrow, with their margins rolled under; flowers in a terminal cyme; sepals lanceolate, their margins with numerous black spots, and glandular serratures. Plant perennial. This very rare species is, save in its erect habit, very similar to the Trailing St. John's Wort. It is described as growing on the slopes of hills of several parts of Jersey, on the banks of the Tamar and other rivers of Devon, and also on some parts of the sea-coast of Cornwall. It has small flowers, in July and August.

12. H. barbátum (Bearded St. John's Wort).-Stem erect, and rounded; leaves egg-shaped, with black dots scattered over the under surface; sepals fringed with long-stalked glands; flowers in a terminal cluster; petals minutely fringed and dotted. This is a doubtful native, described by Mr. Don as growing at the side of a hedge, near Aberdalgie, in Strathearn, Perthshire. It is characterized by the long hairs of its calyx, to which it owes its specific name. Sir William Hooker and Dr. Arnott remark, that they do not believe it ever was really found wild in Scotland. Its stem is about a foot high, bearing yellow flowers in September and October.

2. PARNÁSSIA (Grass of Parnassus).

1. P. palustris (Common Grass of Parnassus).— Leaves heart-shaped, mostly from the roots, one on the stalk clasping; flower terminal solitary; bristles of the nectary from 9 to 13. Plant perennial. This very pretty flower, which has no just pretensions to the name of grass, is frequent on the bogs and wet places in the north of England, but is rare in the midland and southern counties. Its stem is from six to eight inches in height, and in October it is surmounted by the handsome cream-coloured blossom, marked with darker veins. The flower is very singular on account of its large fanshaped nectaries, which consist of scales, each arranged opposite to a petal, and having their margins fringed with conspicuous white hairs, which have each a clear yellow globular gland at the tip. The plant is by no

means peculiar to Mount Parnassus, though well fitted to grace a spot so well known to fame. Dr. Clarke does not even describe it among the flowers which he found on that classic mount, which, he says, is bleak and bare at its summit, save where a few alpine plants, with their large blossoms, and leaves covered with woolly down as a protection from the cold, arrest the attention of the wanderer. Lower down, this traveller found the Alpine Daphne, several beautiful species of Cineraria, Yellow Potentillas, Rock Bell-flowers, and thorny thistles; and lower still, dark groves of pine-trees cast their dark shadows on his footpath. Doubtless, the beauty of the flower, rather than its abundance in that region, gave to it the name of Grass of Parnassus, and its allusion to that place is preserved in most of its European names. The French term it Fleur de Parnassus; the Dutch Parnuskruid; and the name of Parnassia is common to the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. Either this, or a similar species, grows on the bogs of Russia, where it is called Pereloi trawa; and it is the Einblatt of the Germans. Dr. Clarke found it on the borders of Lapland, flowering in July, and thus expresses his pleasure at the sight:-" This evening we found that beautiful plant, Parnassia palustris, in flower; it was growing on a swampy spot, and to us was quite new ; for, although frequently found in Wales and the northern counties of England, and so far south as the moors near Linton and Trumpington in Cambridgeshire, we, as natives of Sussex, had never seen it." One or two very pretty species have been introduced into our gardens from North America; the Parnassia fimbriata, from