184 GAMOPETALOUS EXOGEXS 



an ornamental sliade-tree belongs here; though its general habit, or aspect, would 

 lead one to look feu it beside the Catalpa. It is scarcely, yet, entitled to a place in 

 our Flora. 



SUBORDER I. ANTIRRHINID'EAE. 



Upper lip of the corolla outermost, covering the lobes of the lower, in the bud; 

 capsule usually septicidal. 



f Corolla subrotate ; leaves all alternate. 



265. VERB AS'CIIM, L. 



[Quasi Barbascum: Latin, Burba, beai-d; from its bearded, or woolly habit.] 

 Calyx 5-parted. Corolla nearly equally 5-lobed, concave-spread- 

 ing. Stamens 5, declined; filaments unequal, all (or the 3 upper 

 ones) hairy. Capsule ovoid, or globose; seeds rugose- pitted. 

 Chiefly biennials : flowers in dense spikes, or paniculate racemes. 



1. V. Thdpsus., L. Densely hoary-tomentose ; stem stout, simple; 

 leaves lance-oval, entire, the cauline ones decurrent; flowers in a 

 thick dense terminal spike; 2 lower filaments smooth. 



THAPSUS VERBASCUM. Common Mullein. 



Plant pale greyish-green ; pubescence much branched. Stem 3 to 6 feet high. 

 Radical leaves 6 to 12 inches long, entire, subsessile; stem-leares smaller. Spike 6 

 to 12 or 15 inches long, cylindric, about an inch in diameter; flowers subsessile, 

 bracteate, bright yellow. 

 Hab. Neglected fields ; roadsides, &c. Fl. June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. This foreigner (common throughout Europe, though named 

 as if originating in the isle of Thapws,) is abundantly naturalized 

 in all our older settlements ; and its prevalence is one of the certain 

 signs of a negligent slovenly farmer. The plant seems apt to hy- 

 bridize, or, at least, subject to some remarkable varieties; as I 

 have occasionally found it with the spike less dense, the bracts 

 larger, the stem-leaves ovate and acuminate, with one or more 

 pedunculate flowers in the axil of nearly every leaf: possibly a cross- 

 breed from V. Lychnitis, L. which is frequent around Philadelphia. 



2. V. Blattaria, L. Smoothish and green; stem rather slender, 

 often branched; leaves oblong, serrate, not decurrent; flowers ra- 

 cemose ; filaments all hairy. 



MOTH VERBASCUM. Moth Mullein. 



Biennial? Stem 2 to 4 feet high, angular. Learns 2 to 4 or 5 inches long, the 

 loioer ones petiolate, often sinuate-pinnatifid, the upper ones sessile and clasping. 

 Kacune 6 to 18 inches long, leafy or bracteate, glandular-pubescent; pedicels % an. 

 inch to an inch in length ; flowers greenish-white with a tinge of purple, or bright 

 yellow. 

 Hjb. Pastures; road sides, &c. Nat. of Europe. FL June. Fr. Aug. 



Obs. The variety with whitish, purple-tinged flowers, has become a 

 common weed in Chester County ; the other is more rare. It ap- 

 pears, by the Bartram Correspondence, that about the year 1735, 

 PETER COLLINSON sent the seeds of the " Yellow Moth Mullein" to 

 JOHN BARTRAM, as a curiosity among many others; and that is no 

 doubt the way the yellow variety came to be so common around 

 Philadelphia. This species was named under the notion (which 

 requires confirmation,) that it possessed the virtue of expelling 

 Moths from among clothing. 



