24 FAMILIAR WILD FLOWERS. 



stem, the line of buds and blossoms being- often a foot or 

 more in length. The flowers are of a brilliant yellow, the 

 corolla irregular in form. Three of the stamens have their 

 'filaments the little thread-like parts that support the 

 anthers, or heads covered with whitish woolly hairs ; the 

 remaining two are somewhat longer and free from this 

 woolly or hairy covering. 



The mullein, like most other plants, was, in the Middle 

 Ages, credited with very considerable curative powers. It 

 was believed in the time of Gerard e, a great herbalist in 

 Elizabeth's reign, that the mere carrying of the leaves 

 about one's person, if they had been gathered when the sun 

 was in Virgo and the moon in Aries, was a specific against 

 the falling sickness. A small decoction of the root was 

 used for cramps and convulsion. Toothache, too, was 

 supposed to yield to its power. Distilled water prepared 

 from the flowers was an antidote for gout. The dried 

 flowers in like manner had their especial virtues, while the 

 seed boiled in wine, by some potent influence drew forth 

 thorns and splinters from the flesh. In many parts, both 

 of Europe and Asia, a still more subtle influence, the power 

 of driving away evil spirits, is ascribed to it. 



