Volume 3 — PLATE CLXII. VERBASCUM FERRUGINEUM. Rusty-flowered Mullein.

CLASS V. ORDER I.

PENTANDRIA MONOGYNIA. Five Chives. One Pointal.

GENERIC CHARACTER.

Calyx. Perianthium monophyllum, quinquepartitum, parvum, persistens; laciniis erectis, acutis.

Corolla monopetala, rotata, sub-inæqualis; tubus cylindraceus, brevissimus; limbus patens, quinque-partitus; laciniis ovatis, obtusis.

Stamina. Filaments quinque, subulata, corolla breviora. Antheræ subrotundæ, compressæ, erectæ.

Pistillum. Germen subrotundum. Stylus filiformis, longitudine staminum, inclinatus. Stigma crassiusculum, obtusum.

Pericarpium. Capsula subrotunda, bilocularis, bivalvis, superne dehiscens. Receptacula dimidiato-ovata, dissepimento affixa.

Semina numerosa, angulata.

Obs. In plerisque stamina inclinata sunt, villisque coloratis interne vestita.

Empalement. Cup of one leaf, with five divisions, small, remaining; segments upright, sharp pointed.

Blossom one petal, wheel-shaped, rather unequal; tube cylindrical, very short; border spreading, five divisions; segments egg-shaped, blunt.

Chives. Threads five, awl-shaped, shorter than the blossom. Tips roundish, flattened, upright.

Pointal. Seed-bud roundish. Shaft thread-shaped, the length of the chives, bent downward. Summit rather thick and blunt.

Seed-vessel. Capsule roundish, with two cells, two valves, splitting at the top. Receptacles the form of half an egg, fixed to the partition.

Seeds numerous, angular.

Obs. In the greatest number of species the chives are bent downward, and clothed with soft, coloured hairs on the lower part.

SPECIFIC CHARACTER.

Verbascum foliis subvillosis, rugosis; caulinis subsessilibus, æqualiter crenatis, radicalibus oblongis, cordatis, duplicato crenatis.

Mullein with leaves a little hairy and rough: stem leaves almost without foot stalks, equally scolloped; leaves from the root oblong, heart-shaped, and doubly scolloped.

REFERENCE TO THE PLATE.

1. A Leaf of the plant, from the lower part.

2. The Empalement.

3. A Blossom, shewn from the front.

4. The same cut open from the side, to shew the insertion of the chives.

5. One Chive magnified.

6. The Pointal and Seed-bud, magnified.

The rusty-flowered Mullein of the Kew Catalogue, collated from Sutherland’s Hortus Medicus Edinburghensis, is undoubtedly our plant; but, though it stands a name in the book, we much question its having graced the garden, at the time of its publication. It certainly has been lost to us above a century, and but recently introduced to the Oxford Botanic Garden by the late Dr. Sibthorpe. Being a hardy biennial, it will perfect its seeds about July, which may be sown in August the same year. It will grow in any soil, but a sandy compost of light peat and loam suits it most. The flowers on the spikes, which grow sometimes to the length of four feet, continue to expand, upwards, for above two months; that is to say, from April, till June. Our figure was taken from a specimen sent by the Hon. W. H. Irby, from his garden at the Parsonage, Farnham Royal, Bucks.