Hypericineae
An order of herbs, shrubs, or rarely trees, comprising eight genera and 210 species, generally distributed over the world, both in temperate and warm climates. Flowers usually yellow or white, terminal, panicled or in dichotomous cymes, rarely axillary; sepals five, rarely four, imbricate; petals the same, hypogynous, imbricate, often twisted. Leaves opposite or rarely whorled, simple, penninerved, entire, or with glandular teeth, usually sprinkled with pellucid glands sunk in the parenchyma, and edged with vesicular black glands. Many of the species yield a yellow juice and an essential oil; some are purgative, others tonic and astringent. Illustrative genera are: Ascyrum, Haronga, and Hypericum.