CtASS V. ORDER I. j VERBASCUM. 267 



whole plant is said to he emollient and mucilaginous. The flowers 

 are made into an infusion or decoction in some parts of Italy, an 

 ounce and a half to a pint of water, and is said to be useful for a 

 cough, inflamed bowels, diseases of the kidneys and bladder, and is 

 used as an injection to allay tenesmus. It was also used by the Italian 

 ladies as a cosmetic to remove spots from the skin, and it was 

 quite as useful as many of the now more fashionable and expensive 

 compounds that is sold for the same purpose. 



2. " V. thap'siforme, (Fig. 348.) Schrad. Thapsus-like Mullein. 

 Stem simple, leaves lauceolate-ovate, decurrent, crenulate, downy, 

 the upper acuminate, raceme spiked, dense ; bractea longer than the 

 woolly calyx; segments of the corolla obovate rounded, two anthers 

 oblong." De Cand. 



Lindley, Synopsis, p. 181. Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 1 11. 



Habitat. " By-road sides in Kent." 



44 Biennial ; flowering in July and August." 



This plant we are unacquainted with as a native of Britain ; it is 

 not unfrequent on the continent, but we are disposed to consider it 

 rather as a variety of V. Thapsus than a distinct species. 



3. V. Lich'nitis, Linn. (Fig. 349.) white Mullein. Leares oblong, 

 wedge-shaped above, the lower ovate oblong, on footstalks, nearly 

 smooth mi the upper side, woolly beneath, crenated, stem angular and 

 panicled. 



English Botany, t. 58. English Flora, vol. i. p, 310. Hooker, 

 British Flora, vol. i. p. 111. Lindley, Synopsis, p. 181. 



Root tapering. Stem from two to four feet high, erect, somewhat 

 angular, branched at the top, clothed with short close woolly hairs. 

 Leaves numerous, smooth on the upper side, or slightly scattered over 

 with hairs, beneath thickly clothed with short yellowish wool, with 

 a strong mid-rib, and numerous branched reticulated veins, the 

 margins crenated, the lower ones ovate-oblong, contracted upwards, 

 and tapering at the base into a footstalk, becoming more lanceolate as 

 they advance upwards, and the footstalks shorter, until at length they 

 are sessile, ovate-lanceolate, with a more or less acute or tapering point. 

 Inflorescence a branched paniculated raceme, its branches erect, 

 scarcely spreading, angular and woolly, densely crowded with white 

 flowers, some on a short footstalk, others sessile. Bractea small, 

 lanceolate, smooth within. Calyx of five narrow lanceolate woolly 

 segments, one shorter and rather narrower than the others. Corolla 

 with a short tube, wheel-shaped, the limb of five spreading oblong 

 ncute veiny segments, woolly on the outside, smooth within. Stamens 

 with short white woolly inflexed filaments, nearly equal iu length, 

 inserated into the tube of the corolla, rather small, orange-coloured. 

 Anthers yellow, all similar in size. Style slender, hair} 1 below, smooth, 

 ind swelling upwards, nearly as Jong as the corolla, with an obtuse 

 VOL. I. 2 N 



