DICOTYLEDONS 



135 



in the familiar Foxglove, Toadflax, Snapdragon, 

 Monkey-flower, Speedwell, etc. 



Great Mullein ( Verbascum Thapsus, Fig. 33). 

 — We have five other 

 species of Mullein. This 

 one is recognizable by 

 its woolly foliage and 

 yellow flowers in a dense 

 spike. It stands inter- 

 mediate between the Po- 

 tato and Foxglove 

 families ; because while 

 the former has a regular 

 corolla with five perfect 

 stamens, in nearly all 

 other members of the 

 present family one sta- 

 men is suppressed, so 



that there are usually Fig. 33. Verbascum Xhapsus ; Great 



four. In a few genera 



they are still further reduced to two (Calceolarias 

 and Speedwells). In Mulleins, the stamens are 

 still five in number, but the posterior one is nearly, 

 if not quite, abortive as represented in the top 

 figure on the left. Moreover, the corolla has 

 scarcely become more than very slightly irregular. 

 The soft, thick leaves boiled in milk and 

 sweetened are employed in medicine as being 

 emollient and pectoral ; but the seeds possess 



