Flora of New Zealand Series

Cretan mullein

Biennial; stems to 60-(80) cm tall, with septate or villous hairs. Petioles of rosette and lower lvs broad, densely clothed in septate hairs or villous, to c. 6 cm long, often with small rounded leaflets below the principle lamina. Lamina 6-22 × 3-10 cm (excluding small basal rounded leaflets), narrow-ovate to oblong, ellipsoid on young non-flowering plants, hairy, densely so on midrib, coarsely and irregularly crenate-dentate or even lobulate; base rounded to cordate, sometimes obliquely so; apex acuminate. Upper stem lvs sessile, ovate, regularly serrate; apex acuminate. Infl. usually simple, to c. 60 cm high, dense. Bracts prominent, becoming smaller towards apex, resembling upper lvs but more finely serrate, the acuminate apices much > fls. Fls usually 1 to each axil; pedicels < 5 mm long, villous. Calyx 1-1.5 cm long, lobed to near base; lobes ovate, glandular-hairy, sometimes densely so, coarsely serrate; apex sharply acute or acuminate; lobes lobulate. Corolla 4.5-5.5 cm diam., yellow with purple patches at base; lobes rounded. Stamens 4; upper 2 stamens with purple-villous (sometimes partly white) filaments; lower 2 stamens longer, glabrous, and with anthers decurrent. Capsule 8-10 mm long, globose, almost hidden by calyx. Seeds cylindric-conic to cylindric-oblong, very rugose; apex truncate.

N.: mainly N. Auckland and Auckland, occasional in Opotiki (Bay of Plenty), Taupo, Wairarapa; S.: Kaikoura Peninsula.

W. and C. Mediterranean region 1906

Waste ground, roadsides and cleared areas, also coastal cliffs, pastures.

FL Dec-Jul.

Cretan mullein is an escape from cultivation easily distinguished by the large serrate bracts and calyx lobes. It has previously been known in N.Z. as Celsia cretica.