Images: ©Jouko Lehmuskallio
Great Mullein
Verbascum thapsus
- Synonym: Aron’s Rod
- Family: Figwort Family – Scrophulariaceae
- Height: 30–150 cm (12–60 in.)
- Flower: Almost regular, 12–35 mm (0.5–1.4 in.) across. Petals five, united, yellow, corolla wheel-shaped, tube short, lobes rounded, with stellate hairs on outer surface. Calyx regular (actinomorphic), five-lobed. Stamens five, two of which equalling the corolla-lobes, three shorter. Filaments of the short stamens white-hairy. Pistil of two fused carpels, ovary two-parted, style solitary. Inflorescence a slender raceme.
- Leaves: Alternate. Basal rosette leaves rather short-stalked, blade narrowly elliptic or lanceolate to oblong, with entire or shallowly toothed margins, hairy. Stem leaves decurrent, blade elliptic with shallowly toothed margins, densely hairy on both sides.
- Fruit: A hairy, ca. 5 mm long, septicidal capsule.
- Habitat: Dry meadows, rock-ledges, roadsides, waste ground.
- Flowering time: July–September.
The great mullein is biennial. In the first year it develops a rosette of dense-woolly leaves. In the second year, the up to more than a metre high flowering stem develops. It bears a spike-like inflorescence. The stem dies but stays erect through the winter.
The occurrence of the great mullein is often associated with old habitation. The closely related dark mullein (V. nigrum) has filaments with violet hairs, and its stem leaves are not decurrent.
