Common Mullein

Description:

The rosette leaves are large and soft. They are bluish-green and grow up to 12 inches long and 5 inches wide. Most people compare the soft surface of a leaf to felt. Common Mullein flowers are yellow with five petals. Flowers are about an inch wide. They bloom a few at a time from June to September. Mullein produce huge numbers of seeds. One mullein plant may make over 100,000 seeds in a year. Seeds can survive almost any conditions and can last up to 100 years. Since mullein can't grow in shade, the seeds can lay in the soil, waiting until plants around them die or are removed.

Habitat:

Rocky beach of lake shore.

Notes:

Mullein is biennial, so it lives for two years. The first year, this plant grows a rosette, but no flower stalk. The rosette survives through Winter, and the flower stalk grows the second year. At the end of the second year, the plant dies. Common Mullein was introduced to Virginia from Europe many years ago. It grows faster than many of our native plants, and can crowd out other pioneers in a field. Later, when grasses take over the field, mulleins can't compete, so they die, leaving only their dead flower stalks. The down on the leaves and stem makes excellent tinder when quite dry, readily igniting on the slightest spark, and was, before the introduction of cotton, used for lamp wicks, hence another of the old names: 'Candlewick Plant.