Verbascum

Verbascum is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (/ˈmʌlɪn/[3]), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean.[4][5]

Verbascum
Wavyleaf mullein, Verbascum sinuatum
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Scrophulariaceae
Tribe: Scrophularieae
Genus: Verbascum
L.
Type species
Verbascum thapsus [1]
L.
Synonyms[2]
  • Celsia L.
  • Rhabdotosperma Hartl
  • Staurophragma Fisch. & C. A. Mey.

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

They are biennial or perennial plants, rarely annuals or subshrubs, growing to 0.5 to 3.0 m (1.6 to 9.8 ft) 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
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)[6]
  • 'Letitia'[7]
  • 'Pink Domino' (Cotswold Group)[8]
  • 'Tropic Sun'[9]

Other uses
See also: Verbascum thapsus § Traditional medicine

Plants of the genus have a long history of use as herbal remedies.[10] Although this plant is a recent arrival to North America, Native Americans used the ground seeds of V. thaspus as a paralytic fish poison due to their high levels of rotenone. Verbascum flowers have been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally (as tea) or externally (as ointment, tea, baths, or compresses) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, veins, gastrointestinal tract, and the locomotor system.[11]

Select species
Main article: List of Verbascum species
  • Verbascum acaule (Bory & Chaub.) Kuntze
  • Verbascum adeliae Heldr.
  • Verbascum adenanthum Bornm.
  • Verbascum adrianopolitanum Podp.
  • Verbascum agrimoniifolium Huber-Morath
  • Verbascum anisophyllum Murb.
  • Verbascum arcturus L.
  • Verbascum argenteum Ten.
  • Verbascum austriacum Schott
  • Verbascum baldaccii Degen
  • Verbascum banaticum Schrad.
  • Verbascum barnadesii Vahl
  • Verbascum bithynicum Boiss.
  • Verbascum blattaria L.
  • Verbascum boerhavei L.
  • Verbascum boissieri (Heldr. & Sart. ex Boiss.) Kuntze
  • Verbascum botuliforme Murb.
  • Verbascum brevipedicellatum (Engl.) Hub.-Mor.
  • Verbascum bugulifolium Lam.
  • Verbascum calycosum Hausskn. ex Murb.
  • Verbascum × candelabrum Kar. & Kir.
  • Verbascum chaixii Vill.
  • Verbascum chinense (L.) Santapau
  • Verbascum creticum (L.f.) Cav.
  • Verbascum cylindrocarpum Griseb.
  • Verbascum cylleneum (Boiss. & Heldr.) Kuntze
  • Verbascum daenzeri (Fauché & Chaub.) Fenzl
  • Verbascum davidoffii Murb.
  • Verbascum decorum Velen.
  • Verbascum delphicum Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Verbascum densiflorum Bertol.
  • Verbascum dentifolium Delile
  • Verbascum dieckianum Borbás & Degen
  • Verbascum dingleri Mattf. & Stef.
  • Verbascum drymophiloides Gritzenko
  • Verbascum durmitoreum Rohlena
  • Verbascum × edirnense Dane & G.Yılmaz
  • Verbascum epixanthinum Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Verbascum eriophorum Godr.
  • Verbascum eskisehirensis Karavel., Ocak & Ekici
  • Verbascum euboicum Murb. & Rech.f.
  • Verbascum flavidum (Boiss.) Freyn & Bornm.
  • Verbascum × gabrielianae Hub.-Mor.
  • Verbascum georgicum Benth.
  • Verbascum glabratum Friv.
  • Verbascum glandulosum Delile
  • Verbascum gnaphalodes M.Bieb.
  • Verbascum graecum Heldr. & Sart.
  • Verbascum guicciardii Heldr.
  • Verbascum halacsyanum Sint. & Bornm. ex Halácsy
  • Verbascum haraldi-adnani Parolly & Eren
  • Verbascum hervieri Degen
  • Verbascum herzogii Bornm.
  • Verbascum humile Janka
  • Verbascum jankaeanum Pančić
  • Verbascum laciniatum (Poir.) Kuntze
  • Verbascum lagurus Fisch. & C.A.Mey.
  • Verbascum lanatum Schrad.
  • Verbascum lasianthum Boiss. ex Benth.
  • Verbascum laxum Filar. & Jav.
  • Verbascum leucophyllum Griseb.
  • Verbascum lesnovoensis Micevski
  • Verbascum levanticum I.K.Ferguson
  • Verbascum litigiosum Samp.
  • Verbascum longifolium Ten.
  • Verbascum lychnitis L.
  • Verbascum macedonicum Kosonin & Murb.
  • Verbascum macrocarpum Boiss.
  • Verbascum macrurum Ten.
  • Verbascum mallophorum Boiss. & Heldr.
  • Verbascum megricum Huber-Morath
  • Verbascum mucronatum Lam.
  • Verbascum nevadense Boiss.
  • Verbascum nicolai Rohlena
  • Verbascum nigrum L.
  • Verbascum niveum Ten.
  • Verbascum nobile Velen.
  • Verbascum nudicaule Takht.
  • Verbascum olympicum Boiss.
  • Verbascum oreophilum C. Koch
  • Verbascum orientale (L.) All.
  • Verbascum orphanideum Murb.
  • Verbascum ovalifolium Donn ex Sims
  • Verbascum ozturkii Karavel., Uzunh. & S.Çelik
  • Verbascum × patris Bordz.
  • Verbascum pelium Halácsy
  • Verbascum pentelicum Murb.
  • Verbascum phlomoides L.
  • Verbascum phoeniceum L.
  • Verbascum pinnatifidum Vahl
  • Verbascum pseudonobile Stoj. & Stef.
  • Verbascum pterocaulon Nyman
  • Verbascum pulverulentum Vill.
  • Verbascum purpureum (Janka) Hub.-Mor.
  • Verbascum pyramidatum M.Bieb.
  • Verbascum reiseri Halácsy
  • Verbascum roripifolium (Halácsy) I.K.Ferguson
  • Verbascum rotundifolium Ten.
  • Verbascum × rubiginosum Waldst. & Kit.
  • Verbascum rupestre (Davidov) I.K.Ferguson
  • Verbascum salgirensis Soldano
  • Verbascum samniticum Ten.
  • Verbascum schachdagense Gritzenko
  • Verbascum siculum Tod. ex Lojac.
  • Verbascum sinaiticum Benth.
  • Verbascum sinuatum L.
  • Verbascum songaricum Schrenk
  • Verbascum speciosum Schrad.
  • Verbascum spinosum L.
  • Verbascum suworowianum Kuntze
  • Verbascum szovitsianum Boiss.
  • Verbascum thapsus L.
  • Verbascum undulatum Lam.
  • Verbascum vandasii (Rohlena) Rohlena
  • Verbascum varians Freyn & Sint.
  • Verbascum virgatum Stokes
  • Verbascum xanthophoeniceum Griseb.
  • Verbascum zuccarinii (Boiss.) I.K.Ferguson

See also
  • Mullein moth, a species in the order Lepidoptera which feeds on Verbascum and other plants.

References
  1. Nathaniel Lord Britton; Addison Brown (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. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.). New York Botanical Garden. p. 173.
  2. "USDA GRIN Taxonomy". Retrieved February 11, 2014.
  3. "mullein". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. Sotoodeh, Arash (2018). "Focusing on three Verbascum L. taxa (Scrophulariaceae) of the Flora of Iran". Adansonia. 40 (13): 171. doi:10.5252/adansonia2018v40a13. S2CID 198148731.
  5. Sotoodeh, Arash (2015). Histoire biogéographique et évolutive des genres Verbascum et Artemisia en Iran à l'aide de la phylogénie moléculaire. France: Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier.
  6. "Verbascum 'Gainsborough' (Cotswold Group)". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  7. "Verbascum 'Letitia'". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  8. "Verbascum 'Pink Domino' (Cotswold Group)". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  9. "Verbascum 'Tropic Sun'". RHS. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  10. Tierra, Michael & John Lust (2003). The Natural Remedy Bible (revised and updated ed.). New York: Pocket Books. pp. 164, 180. ISBN 978-0-7434-6642-4.
  11. Vogl, S; Picker, P.; Mihaly-Bison, J.; Fakhrudin, N.; Atanasov, A. G.; Heiss, E. H.; Wawrosch, C.; Reznicek, G.; Dirsch, V. M.; Saukel, J.; Kopp, B. (2013). "Ethnopharmacological in vitro studies on Austria's folk medicine—an unexplored lore in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of 71 Austrian traditional herbal drugs". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 149 (3): 750–71. doi:10.1016/j.jep.2013.06.007. PMC 3791396. PMID 23770053.

Further reading
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