258 THE JOURXAL OP BOTANY 



pair of naked filaments, the large, vivid orange anthers, longly de- 

 current on their filaments, and the stigmas being decurrent, less 

 decidedl}^ capitate. 



On consulting text-books, our plants were found to agree in 

 foliage with thapsiforme rather than with phlomoides ; and an 

 examination of the European sets in the National Herbarium proved 

 this to be the case. 



In Mr. S. T. Dunn's Alien Flora, p. 147, he says : — *' Occasionally 

 noticed as a garden escape in England." Whether it has really so 

 occurred I do not know, though I have much doubt. In the present 

 station it has ever}^ appearance of a true native, growing in similar 

 situations to those which produce V. Thnpsus, and often as solitary, 

 considerably isolated individuals. A friend at Bridgwater, who has 

 grown sundry exotic Mulleins, assures me that he did not introduce 

 it; and, personally, I am convinced that it is indigenous. The 

 average height is two to three feet ; but one plant was met with — in 

 stony, exposed soil, with smaller flowers — little more than a foot 

 high, whereas the strongest specimen obsei-vei reached a height of 

 about six feet (Mr. Edgar Lovett recently saw V. Thapsus eight feet 

 high ; and I have seen it, naturalised, at least as tall, if not taller, on 

 the Canadian side, below Niagara Falls). 



Now arises a question as to its specific rank. Most authorities, 

 such as Bentham, Koch, Rouy, and Nyman, keep it up, rightly 

 regarding V. cuspidatum Schiud. as only a variety. In DC. Fro- 

 dromus (x. 226) Bentham aptly remarks : — *' Folia V. Thapsi^ 

 flores V. phlomoides.'''' Coste, however, reduces it to a variety of the 

 latter ; and Lloj^d was of the same opinion. Though by no means 

 a " lumper," I am strongly in favour of this view. The big plant 

 referred to above had an exceptionally large, thick inflorescence, with 

 three branches from near the base, and one or two of the middle 

 leaves were only decurrent halfwa}^ down to the leaf below : so it 

 would do just as well for V. phlomoides, sensu stricto. I suggest 

 therefore that we should write it " V. phlomoides L., var. (or subsp.) 

 thapsiforme Coste." 



Flowers dried separately are seen to be softly adpressed-pubescent 

 externally. 



In the Student's Handbook (1870 to 1884), under " Excluded 

 Species," Sir J. D. Hooker wrote : — " Verhascum thapsiforme Schrad. 

 Keported by Hudson ; not confirmed." This was careless : Hudson 

 (ed. ii. p. 90, 1778) cited V. thapsoides L., which Linnaeus himself 

 queried as a probable hybrid. V. Thapsvs was not observed in or 

 near the Holford station. 



Schrader's original description is as follows : — " Verhascum 

 Thapsiforme, foliis decurrentibus crenulatis tomentosis : superioribus 

 acuminatis, racemo spieato denso, corollie rotatae laciniis obovatis 

 rotundatis, antheris duabus oblongis . . . 



*' Facies Thapsi. Caulis sesquipedalis, bipedalis et quandoque altior, 

 erectus, teretiusculus, simplex . . . Calices Thapsi, Corollae magni- 

 tudine, forma et colore Phlomoidis.'" H. A. Schrader, Monographia 

 Generis Verbasci, p. 21 (1813). 



