SPEEDWELL MULLEIN. 219 



Buxbaum's Speedwell (Y. Buxbaumii, Plate XIII. , fig. 6), 

 closely resembles these, but has very long footstalks to the 

 flowers, which are larger, and of a brilliant blue; and the 

 capsules are heart-shaped, the lobes downward. This is a 

 scarce species, but grows in a pasture called " the west field," 

 near Richmond. 



The "Wall Speedwell (Y. muralis), has its flowers nearly ses- 

 sile ; they are small, and of a bright blue. It grows on walls 

 near Easby, and is a little shrubby plant one or two inches high. 



The Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Y. hederacea), is a trailing species, 

 with cheerful little lilac flowers, and is common, from the begin- 

 ning of April, on waste ground. 



The Blunt-fingered Speedwell has palmate leaves and purple 

 flowers ; it is a native of Norfolk. 



The Spring Speedwell (Y. verna), has pinnate leaves and 

 pale blue flowers, resembling the Wall Speedwell in habit. 

 We have no specimens of these last two species. 



The Mullein family is the last in the Figwort tribe. These 

 plants have a wheel-shaped corolla cut into five segments, five 

 stamens, and one stigma; the stamens are beautifully fringed. 



The Great Mullein (Yerbascum thapsus), has large leaves 

 that look as if they were made of flannel. It grows three feet 

 high, and the leaves are planted near to one another all up the 

 stem. The large yellow flowers seem to repose in a nest of 

 flannel, for the calyces are as woolly as the leaves, and the 

 apex of the spike seems enveloped in wool. Country people 

 call it "Flannel plant." In Switzerland it was cultivated in 

 cottage gardens, and we used to observe that, if we passed 

 early in a morning, no flowers were to be seen on its spikes. 

 It was some time before we found out the reason of this 

 absence of bloom. The custom was for the children to pick off 

 all the full-blown flowers while the dew was on them, and the 

 mothers preserved them for plasters for the chest ; they were 

 considered to lose their virtue if the dew dried before they 

 were gathered. The plant grows freely in lanes about Eipon. 



