14 



BULLETIN 26, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fig. 11. — Mullein (Verbascum thapsus), flowering plant. 



MULLEIN. 



Verbascum thapsus L. 



Other common names. — 

 Common mullein, great 

 mullein, mullein dock, 

 velvet dock, Aaron's-rod, 

 Adam' s-flannel, old-man' s- 

 flannel, blanket-leaf, bul- 

 lock's lungwort, cow's 

 lungwort, clown's lung- 

 wort, candlewick, , felt- 

 wort, flannel-leaf, hare's- 

 beard, hedge taper, bog 

 taper, ice - leaf, Jacob's- 

 staff, Jupiter's-staff, 

 lady's foxglove, Peter' s- 

 staff, shepherd' s-club, 

 torches, torchwort, velvet 

 plant, woollen. 



Habitat and range. — 

 Mullein is a weed found 

 in fields, pastures, along 

 roadsides, and in waste 

 places, its range extend- 

 ing from Maine to Minne- 

 sota and southward. It 

 is also spreading in the 

 Western States. 



Description. — It is not 

 a difficult matter to rec- 

 ognize this plant, with 

 its tall, straight stem, its 

 large felty or flannellike 

 leaves, and its long, dense 

 spike of yellow flowers. 

 (Fig.' 11.) Mullein is a 

 member of the figwort 

 family (Scrophularia- 

 ceae) and is a biennial, 

 producing during its first 

 year only a rosette of 

 downy leaves, followed 

 from June to August of 

 the second year by the 

 long flowering stalk with 

 its close clusters of gold- 

 en-yellow flowers. 



The stout, densely hairy, 

 erect stem of the mullein 



plant reaches a height sometimes of 7 feet. The leaves, which, with the excep- 

 tion of the basal ones, are stemless, are placed alternately along the stem; they 



