380 



Minnesota Plant Life. 



have much the feeling of flannel. A careful examination of 

 a mullein leaf will show that its surface is covered with little, 

 much-branched hairs, standing close together like so much 

 miniature shrubbery. In the spring of the year the leaves 

 form dense rosettes at the surface of the ground, and later an 

 erect, tall flowering axis is developed, from two to six feet in 

 height. At the end of this a spike of yellow, almost regu- 

 lar flowers is borne. In each flower there are five stamens. 



FIG. 181. View in Minnesota lake district. Shows in center two mullein plants in character 

 istic positions. After photograph by Williams. 



The leaves are alternate. In these characters the mulleins 

 differ from the rest of the figworts, in none of which are there 

 five pollen-bearing stamens, and in most of which there are 

 two-lipped flowers and opposite leaves, though the latter char- 

 acter is by no means universal. 



Toad-flaxes. The toad-flaxes are recognized at once by their 

 snapdragon-shaped yellow or blue flowers, provided with a 

 spur like that of a larkspur flower. The common toad-flax 

 of roadsides and fields blooms in the summer and autumn. 



