334 scEOPHtTLABiACE/E. [Ferbascum. 



became quite mouldy from the superabundant moisture, wliich was unable to 

 escape through the thick walls of the capsule. 



Order LV. SCROPHULARIACE^, Juss. 



" Calyx 4—5 lobed, persistent. Corolla monopetalous, gene- 

 rally irregular, deciduous, with an imbricated aestivation. Stamens 

 4, didynamous, rarely equal, sometimes 2 or 5. Style I. Stigma 

 2-lobed, rarely undivided. Capsule (very seldom a berry) ^-celled, 

 2 — 4 valved, or opening by pores ; the valves entire or bifid, with 

 a dissepiment either double from the inflexed margins of the 

 valves, or simple, parallel and entire, or opposite and bipartite. 

 Receptacle of the seeds central, united to the dissepiment, or 

 eventually separating. Seeds few or numerous. Embryo straight, 

 enclosed in the axis of a fleshy albumen. — Herbs, sojnetimes 

 shrubs, usually loith opposite leaves." — Br. Fl. 



* Corolla rotate, 4 — 5 lobed. 

 f Stamens 6, unequal ; filaments shaggy. 



I. Verbascum, Linn. Mullein.* 



Calyx 5-cleft. Corolla rotate, unequally 5-lobed, with a very 

 short tube. Style and stamens declined ; filaments bearded with 

 coloured hairs. Capsules ovate or globose, 2-celled and 2-valved, 

 many-seeded. 



A genus of handsome plants, with yellow, whitish or purple flowers, chiefly 

 natives of Europe, the West of Asia, and North of Africa. 



§ Leaves decurrent, woolly. Flowers in a dense oblong spike. 



1. V. Thapsus, L. Great Mullein. High Taper. Bullock's 

 Lungivort. Vect. Shepherd's Club. Flannel Plant. " Stem sim- 

 ple, leaves all decurrent woolly on both sides, spike of flowers 

 very dense, pedicels shorter than the calyx, corolla concave in the 

 throat about twice as long as the calyx, 2 stamens longer glabrous 

 their anthers very shortly decurrent." ^ — Br. Fl. p. 303. E. B. t. 

 549. 



/3. Leaves less downy, bracts longer than the calyx. V. thapsifoxme, Schrad.P 



On dry banks, walls and waste places, along hedges, roadsides, in woods and 

 rough stony pastures, in a sandy, gravelly, and above all chalky soil ; common. 

 Fl. June — August. $ . 



E. Med. — About Quarr abbey and at Binstead, in many places, as on a steep 

 bank by the brook at Stonelands, and on rubbish-heaps near the brick-kiln. Wood 

 between Yarbridge and Yaverland. East-end, by Luccombe, abundantly, and 

 of gigantic growth, often 6 or 7 feet high. Between Cowes and Newport ; com- 

 mon in most parts of the island, IB. T. W. 



* Mullein, in French Molene, doubtless from mollis, soft or downy, though the 

 classical Gerarde seems rather to think it is a corruption of woollen ! a truly 

 homespun conceit. 



