VERBAS'CUM PHCENI'CEUM. 



PURPLE-FLOWERED MULLEIN. 

 Class, Order. 



PENTANDEIA. MONOOYNIA. 



Natural Or tier. 



8OLANE*. 



No. 45. 



Verbascum seems to be of very uncertain deriva- 

 tion, and the term having been used by the oldest 

 writers, its origin is likely to remain in obscurity. 

 A supposition has been ventured that it is a corrup- 

 tion of barbascum, from barba, bearded, on account 

 of the woolliness of some of the species. Phoenice- 

 um, from the Latin, signifying purple-coloured. 



Of the origin or application of our English term 

 Mullein, we find no traces, otherwise than as the 

 name of a plant. Some of these being soft and 

 woolly, as before observed, it probably has been ap- 

 plied from the Latin mollis, as indicative of that 

 quality. 



With our drawing of this plant we have given a 

 representation of a section of its stem. On cutting 

 the stem through transversely, the arrangement of 

 its sap vessels are as perfectly exhibited as in vege- 

 tables of a more ligneous formation ; and it is pretty 

 certain that its functions of vegetable life are per- 

 formed by ascending and descending fluids upon 

 the selfsame principles. 



On the circulation of vegetable fluids, various 

 theories have, at different periods, been promulgated 



12 



