364 ' vERBAscuM THAPsiFORME. [December, 



The next British authority is Dr. Liiidley, who is quoted by 

 Hooker^ as his authority for the plant ; and the latter observes 

 that it grows " by roadsides in Kent." 



Here it may be observed, that by several living authorities on 

 this subject the plant has been ignored ; some being doubtful of 

 its very existence, and others sceptical about its being a British 

 or a Kentish plant. 



The writer of this notice has much pleasure in notifying to all 

 British botanists tliat there is such a plant, viz. a species, it may 

 be said, universally recognized by Continental botanists, among 

 whom it will be sufficient to mention De Candolle, Fries, Willde- 

 now, who calls it V. thapsoides ; Meyer, who enters it as V. 

 Thapsus, while the V. Thapsus of English botanists, and of most 

 Continental authors, is by him called V. Schraderi ; and this 

 nomenclature is followed by Cosson and Germain, in their ex- 

 cellent ' Flore des Environs de Paris.^ Whether the Kentish 

 plant be estimated as a species or as a variety, all Continental 

 authors describe it as a species. My first acquaintance with this 

 plant is of a very recent date. About two or three years ago, 

 Mr. Atwood, of Rouen, sent me seeds of many Norman plants, 

 and among these, some of Verbascum thapsifoyme, and of V, 

 phlomoides. These were distributed among several botanists and 

 cultivators ; some succeeded in rearing plants, and some failed. 



I was in doubt, till my plants flowered, whether I had V. 

 thapsiforme, or only V. thapsus. And even after they were in 

 flower I was still dubious, as I had never seen V. thapsiforme, 

 if my plant was what is generally so called, or some nearly allied 

 form, V. phlomoides, for example. 



A Liverpool botanist, who did me the honour of giving me a 

 call, and to whom I had sent seeds of the plant, recognized my 

 plants as the same as his, raised from seeds, and which he had 

 decided to be the plant in question. Soon afterwards I was in- 

 formed by a very kind friend, to whom I gratefully acknowledge 

 my obligations, for helping me to the names of many continental 

 species, that there Avas no question about my plants raised from 

 the Norman seeds ; that they were what foreign botanists unani- 

 mously call a species, and name it V. thapsiforme. 



My scepticism about the plant was now entirely removed, but 

 there were still doubts hanging to it as an English or a Kentish 

 plant. These were very unexpectedly, very satisfactorily, and 



