THE MULLEIN. 23 



but another also in Byzacena, in Africa Propria, referred 

 to by Livy. What authority the great Swedish botanist 

 had for affixing this name to the mullein it is now im- 

 possible to say. The plant is common all over Europe, 

 and if the name be really derived from one of these two 

 sources, the less out-of-the-way place in Sicily would 

 probably afford the origin. The mullein is in some parts 

 of the country termed the high-taper, a name which is 

 erroneously explained as arising from its resemblance to 

 the tall candles which, in the mediaeval and pre-Reforma- 

 tion days, formed a conspicuous part of the decking of 

 the altar. In old books it is, however, spelled hig-taper, 

 and the words mean really the tall and tapering plant that 

 grows in the hedge. Another old English name, agg- 

 leaf, is clearly very similar in general meaning the big 

 leafy plant of the hedge-row. Hage or haga was the 

 Anglo-Saxon word for hedge. 



The common, or great, mullein is a biennial. It 

 throws up in the second year a stem that is little if at all 

 branched, and that attains to a height of some four or five 

 feet. The leaves at the base of the stem are large and 

 numerous, but become smaller as they ascend the stem. 

 They are alternate in arrangement, broad and simple in 

 form, outline a good deal waved, and their bases produced 

 some distance down the stem, as in the comfrey and some 

 few other plants. Both leaves and stem are thickly 

 covered with the soft mass of hairs to which we have 

 already referred. This downy covering was at one time 

 used as a substitute for cotton for lamp-wicks; the plant is 

 hence in some old books called candle-wick. The leaves, 

 owing to this covering, are very thick to the touch.. 

 The flowers are densely packed together at the end of the 



