THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



Entered at the Post Office at BiDghamton, N. Y., as Second Class Matter, Aug. 22, 1901. 



Vol. I. September, 1901. Xo. 3. 



MULLEIN AND POKE. 

 By Ernest Waters Yickers. 



I cannot forego a little tribute to these lusty herbs in their 

 season. The mullein is always conspicuous and interesting. It 

 w as reputed by the simplers of old with the power of soothing, and 

 in the language of flowers means good nature. This herb had 

 laid strong hold on my imagination ere I knew what meaning the 

 books had crowned it with. I can scarcely tell why, but it is a 

 rustic classic to my heart with its great hoary mat of earth-hug- 

 ging leaves, vigorous and cheerful in latter autumn and even 

 peering out from under the thawing snows of winter, where it 

 suggests elements of unconquerable rugged strength. It is just 

 the herb for stony and waste places and poor and neglected bill 

 pastures. Put its tall, stiff wands among strewn stones, scatter 

 about some bheep. w ith their weather-worn coats, suggesting the 

 mottlings of the lichens on the rocks, to which they seem legged 

 brothers, and you have provided the picturesque elements which 

 should tempt any poet-artist of out-door scenes. 



Then the mullein's ascending spire where the canary-lemon 

 flowers by their upward progress mark the succession of summer 

 days. It is a string of petals followed by a string of seeds on 

 those stiff stems, as persistent and forward-pressing as the succes- 

 sive hours ! This plant seems very near the earth, more earthly 

 than many another, which makes us forget its origin in the dainti- 

 ness of its position. Perhaps this is a hint at its charm; it is 

 lowly, humble, homely, and therefore, as in certain rude farmers, 

 we fairly see and smell the old Adamic man — bow down before a 

 certain exalted lowliness. And in keeping has the lemon flower 



