SCROPHULARIACE^: FIGWORT FAMILY 



Verbascum Thapsus, L. 



Yellow, rarely white Common Mullein, Velvet-plant, 



Great Mullein, Candle Wick, 



'June-September Velvet Mullein, Feltwort, 



Mullein Dock, Flannel Leaf, 



Aaron's Rod, Old-man's Flannel, 



Aaron's Flannel, Hare's Beard, 



Adam's Flannel, Hedge Taper, 



Blanket Leaf, Ice Leaf, 



Bullock's Jacob's Staff, 



Lungwort, Peter's Staff, 



Cow's Lungwort, Torches, 



Jupiter's Staff, Lady's Foxglove, 



Shepherd's Club, Torchwort. 



Verbascum: ancient Latin name. 



Thapsus: Latin for Thapsus, in the Island of Sicily, where 

 the plant is native. 



THE PREFERRED HABITAT: dry, sandy soil of the Commons. 



THE PLANT: erect, two feet to seven feet high; the stem 

 stout, simple, rarely with erect branches, densely woolly 

 all over, the hairs branched. 



THE LEAVES: alternate; oblong; thick; woolly on both 

 surfaces; acute at the apex; narrowed at the base; the 

 upper running down the stem, the basal on petioles; round- 

 toothed. 



THE FLOWERS: numerous, in dense cylindrical spikes, 

 sometimes one inch broad; the stamens unequal. 



THE FRUIT: a capsule. 



There are occasions when the Mullein might be called 

 effective in the landscape. As, for instance, when a colony 



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