Foxglove and Toadflax 247 
is a tube of some sort to the corolla in all the plants 
of this family, but in some genera it is very short. 
That of the Mullein is an instance of the latter sort. 
At first sight it looks like an open flower with five 
distinct petals, but these are united into a brief tube 
with five large spreading, nearly equal lobes. It is 
very probable that the original founder of the family 
had flowers much like Mullein, for its calyx and 
corolla both bear plain indications of their fivefold 
character—further, they have five stamens, in which 
they differ from all the other native genera of the 
Foxglove family. The fifth stamen has been got rid 
of in most groups, because it came in the way of the 
special arrangements made for the insect - helpers. 
In one genus, as we shall see, the stamens have been 
reduced to two in order the better to utilise the 
insects. 
The Mullein- flowers hang vertically from the 
woolly spike, and whilst the stamens curl in an up- 
ward direction the style curves downward or outward, 
and is used by some visitors as an alighting-perch. 
Anthers and stigmas ripen simultaneously, but owing 
to the relative positions of these cross-fertilisation is 
favoured, the stigmas being first touched by visitors 
—chiefly the smaller bees, with an eye for pollen 
rather than honey—therefore the flowers produce a 
very fitful and scanty supply of nectar. Should no 
visitor do the needful, there is every chance of a little 
pollen falling upon the stigmas. The pollen is orange- 
red, to enable the bees to find it at once, and the 
filaments of some or all of the stamens are covered 
with hairs, to enable the bees to take hold more easily 
whilst they are gathering the pollen. In some species 
