Verbascum thapsus L.
woolly mullein
Annual or biennial, with greyish or white tomentum of stellate hairs; stems to c. 1 m tall, usually simple, sometimes with a few branches from near base. Rosette lvs shortly petiolate, 7-20 × 3.5-10 cm, elliptic-ovate to elliptic-obovate, crenulate; base attenuate; apex obtuse to acute. Cauline lvs sessile, often more elongated, oblong, to c. 30 cm long; base decurrent. Infl. dense, woolly, to c. 80 cm high, simple or sometimes with 1-2 branches. Bracts lanceolate, acuminate. Fls subsessile or very shortly pedicellate, 1-several in each axil. Calyx 8-12 mm long, deeply lobed; lobes triangular-acuminate. Corolla 1.5-2.5-(3) cm diam., yellow, hairy; lobes rounded. Stamens 5; upper 3 stamens with white-villous filaments; lower 2 stamens glabrous or nearly so, and with anthers decurrent. Capsule 8-10 mm long, broad-ovoid, exserted from calyx. Seeds cylindric-oblong, rugose; apex truncate.
N.; S.: abundant and often conspicuous in open drier parts throughout, much less common in wetter parts; K.: Raoul Id, but not persisting.
Europe, W. Asia 1867
Poor stony or gravelly pastures, screes, stony river beds, roadsides and railways, shingle river banks and beds, dry waste places, sea level to c. 1000 m.
FL Jul-Apr.
