FIGWORT FAMILY 



SCROPHULARIACEAE 



MOTH MULLEIN 



Verbasciim Blattaria L. 



There are two varieties of Moth Mullein, one with yellow 

 and the other with white flowers, but they are otherwise the same. 

 This species was introduced from Europe and is now found in 



fields and waste places from 

 the Atlantic to the Pacific. 

 The stem is rather slender, 

 smooth, unbranched and 2-6 

 feet high. The basal leaves 

 are sometimes very large 

 but they are seldom present 

 at flowering time. 



The very handsome 

 flowers are produced from 

 June until late autumn in a 

 loose raceme which may be 

 as much as 2 feet long. Each 

 flower opens but once, for a 

 few hours in the early part 

 of the day, and seldom are 

 more than 3 or 4 open at 

 any one time. The calyx is 

 deeply 5-parted and the 

 corolla is yellow or white 

 with usually some brown 

 marks on the back, and is 

 also slightly unequally 5- 

 lobed. The filaments of the 

 5 stamens are covered with 

 violet hairs. The capsule is 

 nearly spherical. 



The Common Mullein, 

 Verbasciim Thapsus L., is 

 densely woolly all over. The unbranched stem is tall and stout and 

 winged by the bases of the leaves that extend down on it. The yel- 

 low flowers are produced in a long and very dense spike. Usually 

 the filaments of only the 3 upper stamens are white hairy, the 2 low- 

 er being smooth. This plant is a biennial and the rosette ot woolly 

 leaves produced the first year remains green all winter. 



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