AUGUST 
283 
Latifolium J many of the pods have opened, and show the 
cottony down attached to the seeds^ which makes it un- 
pleasant to approach them on a windy day^ the down being 
so fine as to penetrate the mouth and nostrils^ being borne 
along in clouds. 
C, — Are not these large Sun-flowers some that have de- 
generated from gardens ? 
F. — No : much as they resemble them, they do not even 
belong to the same genus : this is the false Sun-flower 
(Htlenium Autumnale), a native of this country. The 
disk is smaller in proportion to the rays^ than in the Sun- 
flower. Here is another fine^ but very common plant, the 
Great Mullein ( Verbascum Nigrum ) ; its leaves are of a 
very soft and spongy character : its height is commanding, 
and its bright yellow flowers, spotted with scarlet, possess 
great delicacy and beauty. Some people have a notion that 
the leaves of this plant, strewn over grain, will prevent the 
depredations of mice, but I believe it is unfounded. 
C. — See yonder bright rainbow ; the bow in the 
cloud !" 
F. — There is, perhaps, no natural object more beautiful 
than a perfect rainbow, backed by a dark cloud, when the 
sun is low. The real or principal rainbow is always at- 
tended by another more faint, outside it, in which the 
colours are reversed, the violet being outward. But I once 
observed one which was treble. It was at sea in winter 
time : the colours of the bow were remarkably vivid, and 
within the main bow was another adjoining it, the prismatic 
colours recurring in their proper order, and not reversed : 
the violet was succeeded by red, orange, yellow, &c. till it 
ended in violet ; in fact, making one broad bow, containing 
two sets of colours. The inner set was fainter, but quite 
