Verbascum

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Genus of flowering plants

title: "Verbascum" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["verbascum", "medicinal-plants", "scrophulariaceae-genera"] description: "Genus of flowering plants" topic_path: "general/verbascum" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Genus of flowering plants ::

|image=Verbascum sinuatum August 2007-1.jpg |image_caption=Wavyleaf mullein, Verbascum sinuatum |taxon=Verbascum |authority=L. |type_species=Verbascum thapsus |type_species_authority=L. |synonyms=

  • Celsia (L.)
  • Rhabdotosperma (Hartl)
  • Staurophragma (Fisch. & C. A. Mey.) |synonyms_ref=

Verbascum is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean.

Mullein or "mullein leaf" often refers to the leaves of Verbascum thapsus, the great or common mullein, which is frequently used in herbal medicine.

Description

Verbascum are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs, growing to 0.5 to tall. The plants first form a dense rosette of leaves at ground level, subsequently sending up a tall flowering stem. Biennial plants form the rosette the first year and the stem the following season. The leaves are spirally arranged, often densely hairy, though glabrous (hairless) in some species. The flowers have five symmetrical petals; petal colours in different species include yellow (most common), orange, red-brown, purple, blue, or white. The fruit is a capsule containing numerous minute seeds.

Cultivation

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Verbascum_nigrum_flowers_closeup.jpg" caption="Dark mullein (''V. nigrum'')"] ::

In gardening and landscaping, the mulleins are valued for their tall narrow stature and for flowering over a long period of time, even in dry soils.

These cultivars have received the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:

  • 'Gainsborough' (Cotswold Group)
  • 'Letitia'
  • 'Pink Domino' (Cotswold Group)
  • 'Tropic Sun'

Select species

Main article: List of Verbascum species

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/AAS87.jpg" caption="''Verbascum'' sp''.''"] ::

References

References

  1. (1947). "An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada and the British Possessions from Newfoundland to the Parallel of the Southern Boundary of Virginia, and from the Atlantic Ocean Westward to the 102d Meridian". [[New York Botanical Garden]].
  2. "USDA GRIN Taxonomy".
  3. {{OED. mullein
  4. (2018). "Focusing on three ''Verbascum'' L. taxa (Scrophulariaceae) of the Flora of Iran". Adansonia.
  5. (2015). "Histoire biogéographique et évolutive des genres ''Verbascum'' et ''Artemisia'' en Iran à l'aide de la phylogénie moléculaire". Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier.
  6. "''Verbascum'' 'Gainsborough' (Cotswold Group)". RHS.
  7. "''Verbascum'' 'Letitia'". RHS.
  8. "''Verbascum'' 'Pink Domino' (Cotswold Group)". RHS.
  9. "''Verbascum'' 'Tropic Sun'". RHS.

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

verbascummedicinal-plantsscrophulariaceae-genera