''Verbascum lychnitis'', the white mullein, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the figwort family ( Scrophulariaceae) native to Asia and Europe. It has

naturalized Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...

in parts of North America. The species was first formally named by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753. Despite its common name, the flowers can be white or yellow. It is a biennial or short-lived perennial commonly found in disturbed areas. ''Verbascum lychnitis'' can be distinguished from other species in the genus '' Verbascum'' by the sessile and non-clasping stem leaves with upper and lower surfaces differing in color; small, flowers that are separated (not as tightly bunched together as other mulleins); and the somewhat long flower stalks. As with other Mulleins the leaves are clothed with dendritic hairs. In ''V. lychnitis'', the hairs are very short, less than 0.2 mm, so as to appear stellate. The lower surface is much hairier than the upper. It hybridizes with other mullein species , including '' V.nigrum'', '' V.pulverentum'' and '' V.thapsus''.

References

Additional Bibliography

* * * * * lychnitis Flora of Asia Flora of Europe {{Scrophulariaceae-stub