VERBASCUML.MULLEIN

VERBASCUML. - MULLEIN

Scientific Description:

Annual, biennial or perennial herbs, rarely small shrubs, with alternate or very rarely opposite simple or divided leaves, the basal ones forming a rosette. Plants glabrous or with indumentum of eglandular or glandular, simple or branched hairs. Flowers in terminal racemes, spikes or panicles. Calyx equally or very rarely unequally divided. Corolla yellow, rarely violet or purple, brown or yellowish or bluish green, rotate, ± actinomorphic or somewhat zygomorphic. Stamens 4 or 5, sometimes 4 fertile and 1 staminode; filaments villous, with yellowish or purple-violet hairs, or rarely glabrous, all equal or 2 anterior (lower) longer and thicker; anthers of 2 or 3 posterior (upper) stamens always reniform and transversely medifixed, those of 2 anterior (lower) stamens similar or ± elongate, longitudinally inserted and decurrent or rarely obliquely inserted. Style single, filiform or scarcely club-shaped; stigma hemispherical, obovate or spathulate. Capsule septicidal, globose or oblong-ovoid or cylindrical; seeds numerous, small, in Türkiye obconical-prismatic, transversely pitted.

Reference:

Huber-Morath A (1978). Verbascum L., In: Davis PH (ed.), Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands, Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh, 6: 461.

Public Description:

Verbascum, commonly known as “mullein” or “velvet plant”, is a genus of annual, biennial and perennial herbs, rarely small shrubs, and is native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. There are approximately 350 taxa in Türkiye. The plants first form rosettes at the ground level, and then a long stem develops. Biennial plants form rosette leaves in the first year, and stems in the following season. Leaves are spirallly arranged, usually densely hairy, but some species are hairless. The flowers on the stems are usually yellow in color, but there are also species with orange, red-brown, purple, blue or white flowers. The "rotenone (a toxic crystalline substance obtained from the related plants, widely used as an insecticide)" level, which is high in the seeds of mullein, have been used for fishing because of their paralyzing effect.

References:

Anonymous 1 (2016). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbascum /,Accessed date: 22.09.2016.

Anonymous 2 (2016). https://gobotany.newenglandwild.org/search/?q=verbascum /,Accessed date: 22.09.2016.

Karavelioğulları F A (2012) Verbascum L., In: Güner, A., Aslan, S., Ekim, T., Vural, M. & Babaç, M.T. (eds.), Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi (Damarlı Bitkiler). Nezahat Gökyiğit Botanik Bahçesi ve Flora Araştırmaları Derneği Yayını. İstanbul, pp. 850–870.