P: 
AN ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF 
HORTICULTURE. 
Veratrum—continued. / 
lin. broad in the middle, distinctly petiolate ; upper cauline ones 
sessile. Stem slender, 2ft. high, few-leaved, slightly thickened at 
base. Eastern Siberia, 1883. (R. G. 1070.) 
FIG. 157. VERATRUM NIGRUM. 
V. nigrum (black).* /., perianth blackish-purple, two to three 
lines long, the segments oblong, obtuse; lower pedicels one to 
three lines long ` racemes dense-flowered, the laterat ones short ; 
panicle narrow, lft. to 3ft. long. June. I, lower ones oblong, 
Fic. 158. PORTION OF INFLORESCENCE OF VERATRUM NIGRUM. 
lft. long, Gin, to 8in. broad, narrowed at base, plicate. Stem 
erect, 2ft. to 3ft. high, many-leaved, slightly bulbous at base. 
Central Europe, 1596. See Figs. 157 and 158. (B. M. 963; 
J. F. A. 336.) 
VERBASCEJZE. A tribe of Scrophularinee. 
VERBASCUM (the old Latin name used by Pliny). 
Mullein. ORD. Scrophularinew. A genus embracing nearly 
100 species of mostly hardy, biennial herbs, rarely peren- 
nials or sub-shrubs, more or less tomentose or floccose- 
woolly, inhabiting Europe, North Africa, and West and 
Central Asia. Flowers yellow, fuscous, purple, or red, 
rarely white, on usually very short and ebracteolate pedi- 
cels, spicate or racemose ; calyx deeply five-cleft or parted, 
rarely shortly five-toothed ; corolla tube scarcely any, the 
lobes five, broad, nearly equal; stamens five, affixed at the | 
base of the corolla. Leaves all alternate, often soft, entire, 
Verbascum—continued. 
FIG. 159. UPPER PORTION OF PLANT OF VERBASCUM PH(ENICEUM, 
crenulate, sinuate-toothed, or pinnatifid. Few of the 
species are sufficiently beautiful to claim a place in our 
gardens. The British Flora embraces five species, V. Blat- 
taria, V. Lychnitis, V. nigrum, V. pulverulentwm, and 
V. Thapsus. A selection of the most desirable kinds 
is here given. With the exception of V. nigrum and ` 
V. pinnatifidum, which may be increased by divisions and 
cuttings respectively, all are hardy biennials, and only 
require sowing in any ordinary soil. i 
ememr (bipinnatifid). A synonym of V. pinnati- 
um, : 3 
V. Blattaria (Blattaria). Moth Mullein. 1. bright yellow, rarely ` 
cream-coloured, fin. to llin. in diameter ; icles slender, d 
dular ; peduncles lin. to lin. long. l, radical ones An, to 
long, oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, crenate, lobulate, or sub-pinnati- 
fid; cauline ones small, sessile, ovate or oblong, toothed or sub- 
crenate. Stem 8in. to 4ft. high, simple or branched. Europe 
(Britain). (Sy. En. B. 942.) : 
V. Boerhaavii (Boerhaave's) Annual Mullein. fl. yellow, sessile, - 
fascicled or rarely solitary; corolla ample; raceme simple or 
mur uw. ieren l. crenate, woolly ; lower ones ree 
, ; u ones rarel 
Shortly sub decurrent, acute or long-acuminate, “A. 2ft. 
very shortly sub-d t 
South Europe, 1751. A pre 
