Verbascum.] scrophdlariace*. 335 



W. Med.— Very common about Carisbrooke, on banks bv the road going to 

 Buccombe. 



/3. In a little lane between Bradine down and the lane leadino; from Adgeston 

 to Morton, Dr. BMSalter .'.' 



Capsules large, densely imbricated, canescent, with yellowish gray stellate 

 pubescence easily removed by friction, broadly ovoid and subcompressed, dehis- 

 cing by a lateral furrow and partially at the summit of each valve. Seeds nume- 

 rous, dull brown, very unequal in size and shape, mostly prismatic or angular or 

 abruptly truncate, others oblonif, tapering, obtuse or somewhat pointed, rough 

 with rows of deep depressions and intermediate tubercular points. 



This species abounds, both in the United States and in Canada, in neglected 

 fields, old pastures, &c., where, like many of the supposed foreign weeds of that 

 country, it is even more prevalent than in its native Europe. 



§§ Leaves not decurrent, more or less woolly beneath, nearly glabrous above. 

 Flowers fascicled, in a long spike or racenie. 



3. V. nigrum, L. Dark Mullein. Leaves ovato-lanceolate 

 pubescent on short footstalks, flowers in a long simple or 

 branched spike, calyx-segments linear acute. Br. Fl. p. 304. 

 E. B. i. t. 52. Fl. Loud. iii. Fl. Dan. vii. t. 1 088. Schrab. 

 Mon. Verb. sect. ii. p. 25. 



In dry gravelly, sandy or chalky pastures, on hedgebanks, by roadsides and 

 borders of fields, but very local. i^Z June— October. 2^ ex M. et K. $. 



E. Med. — In several places about Arreton, and abundantly along the hedge- 

 banks of two fields on either side of the road from thence to Merston, near the 

 foot of St. George's down. On a bank by Alverslone farm, at the entrance of the 

 lynch. * Near Ryde, Miss Roberts ! Near Arreton and Merslon, Mr. W. D. 

 Snooke .'.'.' 



Root perennial. Stem erect, usually from 1 to 3 or 4, sometimes 5 or 6 feet in 

 height, straight, mostly simple but often paniculately branched, solid and filled 

 with a beautiful tissue of pentagonal cells, acutely angular and channelled, mostly 

 purplish and somewhat terete below, clothed with a more or less dense woolly 

 pubescence, composed of curiously branched hairs jointed internally. Leaves all 

 (excepting the uppermost on the stem) stalked, very variable in size and shape, 

 mostly ovate or ovate-lanceolate, rounded or cordate at the base, mostly acute, 

 sometimes obtuse, deep dull grayish or blackish green, strongly veined and 

 wrinkled, downy or sometimes nearly glabrous above, paler and more or less 

 woolly beneath, especially along the principal nerves, undivided or somewhat 

 lobed, and even, it is said, with the base of the lowermost sometimes lyrate-pinna- 

 tifid (Bertol. 1. c), more or less equally crenato-serrate ; radical and lowermost 

 stem-leaves often very large, 16 or 18 inches long, excluding the petiole, by 8 or 

 10 inches wide, on deeply caniculate semiterete footstalks, of very variable length, 

 and mostly, like the midrib of the leaf, purplish ; superior stem-leaves very shortly 

 stalked, often lanceolate and obscurely crenate, the uppermost of all usually quite 

 sessile and slightly clasping, very broadly ovate, with long points and quite 

 entire. Flowers very numerous, in clusters of about from 4 to 6 or 10 together, 

 crowded into a leafless, gradually elongating cylindrical and spicate raceme 

 either simple or branched below, the branches upright and much shorter than the 

 centre spike or proliferous continuation of the stem, which is often 18 inches or 

 more in length. Each fascicle is subtended by a common bract, of which the 

 lowermost are linear or ovate at base, with long taper points, and mostly longer than 



* Lynch is a name applied to several woods in the Isle of Wight, but I do not 

 know the precise limitation of the term. The British word for a grove is said to 

 be llwyn ; perhaps both that and the modern provincialism may have the same 

 origin. 



