PENTANDRIA. MONOGYNIA. Verbascum. 313 
the stem be struck with a stick, the corollas will, in a few minutes, be 
thrown off, the calyx closing round the germen; as recorded in Eng. 
FI. E.) 
(Powdery Mullein. Yellow Hoary Mullein. Norfolk Mullein. 
V. Lychnitis. Var. 1. With. Ed. 4. V. pulverulentum. Villars. Sm. Hook. 
E.) Very common in Norfolk. Mr. Woodward. Bury ; Wollerton, near 
Nottingham. Ray. (In a den near Cullen. Maughan, in Hook. Scot. E.) 
B. July. 
(Smith also describes a variety which he conceives to be Ihe offspring of 
V. nigrum, though in general habit resembling V. pulverulentum, having 
leaves more strongly scolloped; the root-leaves on stalks; stem and leaf¬ 
stalks tinged with purple. Root generally perennial. V. var. /3. nigro- 
pulverulentum. FI. Brit. 
At Hellesdon, near Norwich, frequent. Mr. Woodward informs me that 
this curious variety grows on gravelly soil at Ditchingham, near Bungay ; 
and observes that the different species of Verhascum seem to have a pecu¬ 
liar propensity to intermingle and form hybrids. From Bot. Guide we learn 
that Mr. Wigg cultivated for many years V. nigrum, pulverulentum, and 
Blattaria, and the seminal varieties which rose in almost every possible 
state of intermediate gradation between them, were highly curious and 
beautiful. E.) 
V. ni’grum. Leaves heart-oblong, on leaf-stalks : (irregularly crenate; 
slightly pubescent. E.) 
(Hoo/r. FI. Lond. 103. E.)— E. Bot. 59 — FI. Dan. 1088— Fuchs. 849— Dod. 
144. 1— J. B. iii. 873. 3 —Trag. 218 —Ger. 631. 2—Ger. Em. 775. 2— 
H. Ox. v. 9. row 2. 5. 
Stem angular, (.three or four feet high, often coloured. E.) Leaves 
heart-spear-shaped, not doubly scolloped; the lower on broad leaf¬ 
stalks, (nearly glabrous, dark green; radical ones nearly a foot long. E.) 
Flowers about seven in a set. Spike long, cylindrical, but not very com¬ 
pact. The beauty of its golden yellow blossoms is much enriched by the 
tints of purplish brown at the mouth of the tube, and orange-coloured 
anthers. ( Stamens clothed with purple hairs. E.) 
Black Mullein. Hedges and road sides. Road sides, sandy soil, Suf¬ 
folk. Woodward. At Hamstead, betwixt Birmingham and Walsal. 
Plentiful in Kent and Norfolk. (Near the cross, on the road from 
Ashow to Stonleigh, plentiful. Perry. Tyne and Wear Ballast Hills. 
Mr. Winch. Borthwick Castle. Mr. Maughan, in Grev. Edin. Near 
Arreton and Merston. Mr. Snooke. Between Crafthole and Looe, De¬ 
von. Rev. P. Jones. P. July—Sept.* 
* (Probably named from the darker hue or blackness of the leaves. It is a handsome 
plant, not inappropriate to shrubberies. The flowers are grateful to bees, and should be 
encouraged near to the Apiarium. Minute attention to the conspicuous parts of these 
flowers might perhaps lead to the detection of a singular circumstance thus recorded by 
Goldsmith. “ But honey is not the only food on which these animals subsist. The meal 
(farina) of flowers, of which their wax is formed, is one of their most favourite repasts. 
When the flowers upon which bees generally feed are not fully expanded, and this meal or 
dust is not offered in sufficient quantities, the bees pinch the top of the stamina in which it 
is contained, with their teeth ; and thus anticipate the progress of vegetation. Swine eat 
it} sheep are not fond of it j cows, horses, and goats refuse it. E.) 
