22 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



"velvet-plant", "ice-leaf", and "lucernaria". The last 

 mentioned is from the Latin lucerna, a lamp, and, like "candle- 

 wick mullein", alludes to the ancient use of the woolly leaves 

 as wicks for lamps. By many the word "mullein", or "mullen" 

 as it may be spelled, is derived from the same rootl as wollen 

 and the word flannel is regarded as akin to it. After the 

 leaves, the flower-spike is probably responsible for the greatest 

 number of names in the vernacular. Among these may be 

 noted "Jacob's-stafif", Aaron's rod", "hag-taper", "hedge tap- 

 er", "torches" and "shepherd's club". The name of "cows 

 lungwort" and "bullock's lungwort" may have been given to 

 the plant in the supposition that it is medicine for cows, but 

 grazing animals rarely if ever eat it. The plant is also called 

 "great mullein" to distinguish it from die lesser members of 

 its genus. 



Verbasciiui blattaria is the "moth mullein". The name is 

 said to have been given the plant because moths visit it, but it 

 is very apparent that the hairy purplish stamens and the soft 

 white or yellowish corollas make the flower itself very like a 

 moth and this is probably the correct interpretation of the 

 name. The specific term is from Blatia the generic name of 

 the cockroch and was given this plant under the entirely er- 

 roneous impression that it will repel the unwelcome insects 

 mentioned. The specific name of Vcrbascum lychnitis is from 

 the Greek lychnos, a lamp, and is still another allusion to the 

 use of mullein leaves as lamp-wicks. 



A companion of the mullein in old fields, and like it an im- 

 migrant from Europe, is the "toad-flax" (Lmorm vulgaris). 

 This species, however, has a' rather more aristocratic lineage 

 and appears to have been first imported for the flower-garden, 

 but its vagabond ways soon made its room better than its com- 

 pany and it was turned out and obliged to consort with other 



