WILD, OK NATIVE FLOWERS. 91 



Common Mullein. — Verbascuni T/iapsiis, (L.) 



This plant is one of the tallest of our wayside weeds ; the large, 

 soft leaves, densely clothed with silky white hairs, are not without value 

 with the Herb-doctors. They are used in pulmonary disorders, as 

 outward applications for healing purposes, and in such complaints as 

 Dysentery, to allay pain ; the leaves are made hot before the fire, and so 

 laid over the body of the sufferer. Moreover, this wonderful plant is 

 said to drive away rats and mice, if laid in cellars or granaries ; but this 

 virtue may only be a fond delusion. Commend me rather to Miss Pussy, 

 as a more certain exterminator of these troublesome household pests. A 

 grand and stately spike of golden flowers, called Giant-taper, grew in my 

 father's garden, and was the resort of Honey-bees innumerable. Homely 

 as our Canadian plant is considered to be, yet it has uses of its own, 

 besides those attributed to it by the old settlers. The abundance of the 

 seeds which remain in the hard capsules during the winter, afford a 

 bountiful supply of food for the small birds that come to us early in 

 Spring. In March, and early in April, the Snow-Sparrows, and their 

 associates, the little Chesnut-crowned Sparrows, 



" That come before the Swallow dares," 



and the brown Song Sparrows, may be seen eagerly feasting on the dry 

 seeds which still remain on the withered plants. The soft grey down of 

 the hoary leaves, later on in May and June, is used as linings for the nests 

 of the Humming-birds, and other small birds that weave dainty soft 

 cradles for the tiny families that need such tender care. Taught by 

 unerring wisdom, each mother-bird seeks its most suitable material, and 

 appropriates it for the use and comfort of its unknown, unseen brood. 

 Let us not despise the common Mullein, for may it not remind us of 

 Him who careth for the birds of the air, and giveth them from His 

 abundant stores their meat in due season ; and that wonderful unerring 

 wisdom that we call instinct: " AVho least, hath sonic; who !/iosf, hath 

 ;/tT'(7- f?//." Happy are the wild flock for whose untold wants He 

 provideth. The birds of the air teach us wisdom, for they obey the 

 Creator's will, and rebel not at His laws. 



False Fox-glove. — Gerardia gi/etrifol/a, (Pursh). 



(PLATE V.) 



I think old Gerarde, the first English writer on the wild flowers 

 and native plants of England (for whose memory all botanists feel a 

 sort of veneration) would have given a far better description of the 

 stately plant honoured by his name, than the writer of this little work 

 can hope to do, seeing that the only native species that has come within 



