734 



VER 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



VER 



solitary. Root annual, fusiform ; stem about three feet high, 

 erect, branched, leaty, angular, smooth ; flowers peduncled, 

 solitary, yellow, streaked more or less with purple, having 

 each a single ovate bracte at the base of the peduncle. The 

 upper part of the stem, as well as the gertnen, calix, bractes, 

 and upper leaves, are clothed with short hairs tipped with 

 minute globes. There is a variety, with oblong smooth dark 

 green leaves ; stem three or four feet high, from the sides of 

 which the flowers come out singly; corollas white within, 

 with a little blush of red on the outside. Native of the south 

 of Europe, Germany, Switzerland, and England, in clayey 

 and gravelly soils. It is found about Plymouth and Ash- 

 burton in Devonshire; by the river Medway, near Rochester, 

 and between Deptford and Greenwich in Kent ; and also 

 between Mitcham common and Carshalton, in Surry. It is 

 frequently cultivated in gardens, where it is very ornamental, 

 flowering from July to November, in mild weather. 



13. Verbascum Gallicum; French Mullein. Leaves sub- 

 villose, cordate, petioled, toothed ; root-leaves pinnatifid at 

 the base. Root biennial ; stem about two feet high, dividing 

 at the upper part into several branches spreading out at right 

 angles ; flowers middle-sized, yellow, with purple haired 

 filamenta. This appears to have been confounded with the 

 ninth species, from which it differs principally in the leaves, 

 the disposition of the branches, and their pubescence. 

 Native of Dauphiny. 



14. Verbascum Sinuatum ; Scollop-leaved Mullein. Root- 

 leaves pinnatifid, repand, tomentose; stem^leaves embracing, 

 almost naked ; stem panicled, many-flowered. Root bien- 

 nial ; flowers sessile, glomerate, in an uninterrupted spike; 

 corolla small, yellow. It flowers in July and August. 

 Native of the south of France, Italy, and Barbary. 



15. Verbascum Pinnatifidum. Leaves linear-lanceolate, 

 pinnatifid ; segments obtuse, toothed ; stem panicled, many- 

 flowered. The stem is erect, a foot high, tomentose at the 

 base, becoming smooth by age, round, branched at bottom ; 

 flowers sessile, crowded, yellow, hoary externally, with 

 orange-coloured stamens. Found in the islands of the 

 Archipelago. 



16. Verbascum Bamadesii. Stem almost naked; leaves 

 lanceolate, tooth-sinuate, smooth ; peduncles one-flowered. 

 Stem a foot high, smooth, quite simple, with a leaf or two at 

 bottom ; corolla yellow. Native of Spain. 



17. Verbascum Osbeckii. Leaves gashed, naked ; stem 

 leafy; calices woolly ; peduncles two-flowered ; stems spread- 

 ing on the ground on all sides, undivided, triangular, nervose. 

 The whole plant has the smell of musk. Biennial. It flowers 

 in July and August. Native of Spain. 



18. Verbascum Spinosum; Thorny Mullein. Stem leafy, 

 spiny, frutescent. This is a shrub a foot high, stiff, and 

 very much branched; branches alternate, round, tomentose. 

 hoary; peduncle ending in a spine; corolla small, yellow, 

 tomentose on the outside ; capsule the size of a Coriander 

 seed, smooth. Native of Candia or Crete. 



19. Verbascum Myconi ; Borage-leaved Mullein. Leaves 

 woolly, radical ; scape naked. Roots perennial, composed 

 of slender fibres. From among the leaves rise several scapes 

 or slender stalks, about four inches high, which divide into 

 three or four pedicels, at the top hairy, and of a brownish 

 colour, each sustaining one large flower of a fine blue, so 

 deeply divided as to appear to be five-petalled. It could 

 not be supposed from the habit of this plant that it belonged 

 to this genus, most of the plants being tall and showy, with 

 leafy stems, and long spikes of generally yellow flowers; 

 whereas this species is of very humble growth, but having 

 large and hijhly ornamental flowers of a bluish purple colour, 



it is a very desirable plant to cultivate, especially for adorning 

 rock-work. Native of the Pyrenees, where it grows spon- 

 taneously, and is lower than in our gardens, with a more 

 woolly foliage, enriched with various tints. It is perennial, 

 and usually propagated by offsets, which come out from the 

 sides of the old plant, and should be taken off" in autumn, 

 and planted in small pots filled with light sandy earth : they 

 must always have a shady situation, for they will not thrive 

 when exposed to the sun : being very hardy, it will grow 

 in almost any soil, but requires a northern aspect in sum- 

 mer, and careful watering in dry weather. 



20. Verbascum Claytoni. Leaves amplexicaul, sublan- 

 ceolate-oblong ; stem-leaves inciso-cienate ; pedicels solitary, 

 one-flowered ; flowers yellow, and larger than those of the 

 twelfth species ; but of which it appears to be only a variety. 

 Grows in woods and fields from Virginia to Carolina. 



Verbena; a genus of the class Diandria, order Monogynia; 

 or, of the class Didynamia, order Gymnospermia. GENERIC 

 CHARACTER. Calix: perianth one-leafed, angular, tubular, 

 linear, five-toothed, the fifth toothlet truncate, permanent. 

 Corolla : one-petalled, unequal ; tube cylindrical, straight 

 for the length of the calix, then widening and curved in ; 

 border spreading, half five-cleft; segments rounded, almost 

 equal. Stamina : filamenta two or four, bristle-shaped, very 

 short, lying within the tube of the corolla, two of them shorter 

 when there are four; antherse curved in, as many as there are 

 filamenta. Pistil: germen four-cornered; style simple, fili- 

 form, shorter than the tube; stigma obtuse. Pericarp: very 

 slender, and scarcely manifest, or almost none ; calix contain- 

 ing the seeds. Seeds: two or four, oblong. Observe. The fif- 

 teenth species bears edunated seeds, and two antherae, with an, 

 inflated calix. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Corolla : funnel- 

 shaped, almost equal, curved. Calix : five-toothed, one of them 

 truncate. Seeds: two or four, naked or very thinly arilled. 



Stamina : two or four. The species are, 



* Two-stamined, two-seeded* 



\ . Verbena Orubica ; Betony '-leaved Vervain. Two-sta- 

 mined : spikes very leafy. This arises with a shrubby stalk 

 neaily three feet high, divided into three or four branches; 

 leaves oblong-ovate, placed by pairs, deeply serrate, deep 

 green above, but hoary beneath. The flowers grow in thick 

 terminating spikes, of about a foot in length, and are large 

 and of a fine blue colour : they come out in July, and, when, 

 the weather proves warm, the seeds ripen in autumn. Bien- 

 nial, and a native of South America. This, with all the 



other plants of this genus that are natives of the same 

 country, or of the West Indies, require care and protection. 

 The seeds should be sown upon a hot-bed early in the spring ; 

 and when the plants are fit to remove, they should be each 

 transplanted into a separate small pot, and plunged into a 

 fresh hot-bed to bring them forward, shading them in the 

 day-time with mats until they have taken new root, and 

 then treating them as other tender plants from the same 

 countries. The annuals must be kept in the stove, or in a 

 good glass-case when they are become too tall to remain, 

 longer under the frames ; for if they are placed abroad in 

 the open air, they will not ripen their seeds here, unless the 

 summer be very warm : and where there is a conveniency of 

 having a bark-bed in a glass-case, for plunging some of these 

 tender annual plants, they will thrive much better, and come 

 to greater perfection than those which are placed on shelves. 

 The perennial sorts may be kept in such a glass-case till 

 autumn, allowing them a larger share of air in warm weather, 

 to prevent their drawing up weak as they increase in size ; 

 but it must be cautiously performed. They will not thrive 

 if overpotted. Such of these plants as do not produce good 



