FIGWORT TRIBE 27 



calyxes, are covered with a thick wool. Mr. H. C. Watson questions its 

 right to be considered a native. 



5. White Mullein (F. lychniMs). — Leaves nearly smooth above, woolly 

 and powdery beneath, with rounded notches at the margin ; lower leaves 

 oblong, wedge-shaped and stalked; upper leaves sessile, egg-shaped, and 

 pointed, with a rounded base ; stem angular and panicled, with ascending 

 branches ; biennial. This species occurs chiefly in chalky districts, and in 

 some parts of the kingdom is not uncommon on the hedges and borders of 

 fields and pastures. It is less showy when in flower than most of its family, 

 its blossoms, though numerous, being small and generally cream-coloured, 

 though sometimes yellow ; they are on short stalks, and their filaments have 

 white hairs. They expand in July and August. The lower sides of the 

 leaves are covered with thick wool, and the down of this, as well as of some 

 other species, has been on some occasions used as tinder or as wicks to lamps ; 

 hence its name of Lychnitis, from the Greek for lamp. Morin states that a 

 good yellow dye for cotton may be obtained from this plant ; and adds, that 

 an infusion of its flowers was formerly used by the Roman ladies to tinge 

 their hair with that rich yellow hue once so much admired in Italy, and long 

 after prized so highly in our own country when Spenser wrote : — 



■■ Instead of yellow locks, she did devise 

 With golden wire to weave her curled head : 

 Yet golden wire was not so yellow thrise 

 As Florimell's faire heare." 



This also is a doubtful native. 



6. Dark Mullein {V. nigrum).— Lea.\es nearly smooth above, woolly or 

 downy beneath, with rounded notches at the margin, oblong heart-shaped, 

 upper ones nearly sessile, lower ones on long stalks ; flowers in dense tufts 

 on a long crowded spike ; stem angular ; perennial. This species bears its 

 handsome spike of rather large, rich yellow flowers from July to September, 

 and their filaments are beautifully fringed with bright purple hairs. It is a 

 tall plant, not so stout as the Great Mullein, and much darker in hue, the 

 leaves being of a deep green. It grows on banks and way-sides on gravelly 

 and chalky soils, and is abundant and truly wild in the midland and southern 

 counties, but in the north of England and Scotland is believed to be naturalized. 

 It is said to possess slightly narcotic properties, and to have been used for' 

 intoxicating fish. A large number of species of Mullein are to be seen 

 adorning our gardens. They are brought chiefly from the south of Europe, 

 and some of them, 'having escaped in several spots from cultivation, have 

 been described as native plants. Such are the V. phceniceum, V. ferruginewn, 

 and some others, but they are neither wild nor naturalized to any extent. 

 Parkinson, in his " Garden of Flowers," describes a species called the Woody 

 Mullein, or French Sage, which appears to have bee.i much prized in olden 

 times. He says the leaves are somewhat resembling sage in form and rough- 

 ness, but not in scent. "AVhereof," he says, "our people gave it the name 

 of Sage, calling it French Sage (whereas it is as great a stranger in France as 

 it is in England), yet they doe with this as with many other things, calling 

 those French which come from beyond the seas ; as, for example, all or most 

 of our bulbous flowers they call ' French flowers.' " 



4—2 



