A CURIOUS MULLEIN HABITAT 



By Willard N. Clute. 



nnHE banks of the streams in the vicinity of Joliet are for 

 the most part formed of a rich black aUuvial soil and the 

 wearing of the meandering current constantly cuts them do\¥n 

 on one side and as steadily builds them up on the other. 

 Though they are seldom more than a few feet higher than the 

 surface of the water, the almost perpendicular faces they pre- 

 sent afford a fertile soil for any plant able to take and occupy 

 it. As a matter of fact, the faces change so rapidly under the 

 wearing of the current that few plants are able to maintain a 

 root hold, but the situation is one that seems exactly tO' suit the 

 common mullein (Verbascuiii thapsiis) whose long tap-root 

 rapidly penetrates the soil and holds the plant secure against 

 even ordinary floods. In consequence, the banks of the streams 



