Yellow and Orange 



uation of the species is at stake ; and the intense cold which the 

 exquisite rosettes formed by year-old plants must endure through 

 a winter before they can send up a flower-stalk the second spring 

 — these trials the well-screened, juicy, warm plant has success- 

 fully surmounted through its coat of felt. Humming birds have 

 been detected gathering the hairs to line their tiny nests. The 

 light, strong stalk makes almost as good a cane as bamboo, espe- 

 cially when the root end, in running under a stone, forms a 

 crooked handle. Pale country beauties rub their cheeks with the 

 velvety leaves to make them rosy. 



Moth Mullein 



{Verbasciim Blattaria) Figwort family 



Flowers — Yellow, or frequently white, s-parted, about i in. broad, 

 marked with brown ; borne on spreading pedicles in a long, 

 loose raceme ; all the filaments with violet hairs ; i pro- 

 truding pistil. Stem: Erect, slender, simple, about 2 ft. high, 

 sometimes less, or much taller. Leaves: Seldom present at 

 flowering time ; oblong to ovate, toothed, mostly sessile, 

 smooth. 



Preferred Habitat — Dry, open wasteland ; roadsides, fields. 



Flowering Season — ^June — November. 



Distribution — Naturalized from Europe and Asia, more or less 

 common throughout the United States and Canada. 



Quite different from its heavy and sluggish looking sister is this 

 sprightly, slender, fragile-flowered mullein. " Said to repel the 

 cockroach (Blatta), hence the name Blattaria; frequented by 

 moths, hence moth mullein." (Britton and Brown's "Flora.") 

 Are the latter frequent visitors ? Surely there is nothing here to 

 a moth's liking. New England women used to pack this plant 

 among woollen garments in summer to keep out the tiny clothes- 

 moths. The flower, whose two long stamens and pistil protrude 

 as from the great mullein's blossom, and whose filaments are tufted 

 with violet wool footholds — unnecessary provisions for moths, 

 which rarely alight on any flower, but suck with their wings in 

 motion — are cross-fertilized by pollen-collecting bees and flies as 

 described in the account of the great mullein. 



" Of beautiful weeds quite a long list might be made with- 

 out including any of the so-called wild flowers," says John Bur- 

 roughs. " A favorite of mine is the little moth mullein that blooms 

 along the highway, and about the fields, and maybe upon the 

 edge of the lawn." Even in winter, when the slender stem, set 

 with round brown seed-vessels, rises above the snow, the plant 

 is pleasing to the human eye, as it is to that of hungry birds. 



3Z^ 



