268 VERBASCUM. [cLASS V. ORdEK 1. 



Stigma. Capsule ovate, somewhat compressed, furrowed on each side, 

 woolly, of two cells, opening with two valves, surrounded with the 

 persistent calyx. Seeds numerous, small, brown, angular, dotted. 



Habitat. — Pastures, road sides, and waste places, especially on a 

 chalky soil. 



Biennial ; flowering in July and August. 



4. V. fiocco'sum. Waldst et Kit. (pi. rar. hung.) (Fig. 350.) yellow 

 hoary Mullein. Lower leaves ovate oblong, on footstalks, the upper 

 ones sessile, ovate-lanceolate. 



V. pulverulentum, ViJl. — English Botany, t. 487. — English Flora, 

 vol. i. p. 311. — Hooker, British Flora, vol. i. p. 112. — Lindley, 

 Synopsis, p, 181. 



Hoot tapering, sometimes divided and branched. The whole plant 

 clothed with a soft thick powdery wooUiness, having a unctuous feel 

 when rubbed between the fingers, easily rubbed from the plant. Stern 

 from three to six feet high, erect, slout, much branched, round, or 

 sometimes obscurely angular. Leaves numerous, more or less dis- 

 tinctly crenated on the margin , with a strong mid-rib, and numerous 

 branched reticulated veins, above sparingly, but beneath densely 

 clothed with woolliness, the lower and radicle leaves ovate oblong, 

 attenuated into a footstalk of variable length, large, often a foot long, 

 becoming gradually smaller up the stem, with a shorter footstalk, until 

 they are sessile and lanceolate, often with a tapering point. Injlo- 

 rescence a large branched paniculated raceme, the branches round, 

 erect, and disposed in a pyramidal form, from two to three feet long. 

 Floivers very numerous, crowded, rather large, bright yellow, very 

 handsome, some sessile, others on short footstalks, in crowded alternate 

 tufts, very woolly. Bractea cordate lanceolate, the upper ones very 

 small. Calyx in five lanceolate somewhat unequal segments. Corolla 

 in five oblong ovate spreading segments, with a short tube, woolly 

 externally. Stamens nearly equal, the filaments clothed with pale 

 yellow or white woolliness. Anthers all similar in size, scarlet. Style 

 about as long as the corolla, slender, somewhat hairy below, smooth 

 and thickened upwards. Stigma obtuse. Capsule woolly, ovate, 

 slightly compressed, scarcely furrowed on each side, surrounded by the 

 persistent calyx, of two cells, opening with two valves. Seeds small, 

 numerous, brown, angular, dotted. 



Habitat. — Banks, road sides, and the borders of fields, in a gravelly 

 or chalky soil ; frequent in Norfolk and Suffolk, Nottinghamshire, 

 Den, near Cullen, and about Stirling, Scotland. 



Biennial ; flowering in July and August. 



A curious instance of the irritability of this plant is mentioned by 

 Smith ; he says, if the stem be smartly struck three or four times with 

 a stick, all the flowers then open will in a few minutes throw off" their 



