The Millenium Mullein - Page 4
© Jojo
Aaron's Rod, Mullein, Jupiter's Staff or whatever else you want to call it is taxonimically named after Thapsus in Northern Africa. Therefore the species name is capitalized. Talk about nit picky...
This mullein shares garlic's reputation as the plant that guarded Ulysses from Circe's Magic. The Romans used mullein stems dipped in tallow for torches. For futher reading along these lines, all kinds of interesting facts about the historical significance of Mullein and other plants in Europe can be found in Flowers of the Madonna as reprinted from Horticulture Magazine.
Picture of plant after flowering, with Toni Wilson along Doughty Creek, Troyer's Hollow , Holmes County, Ohio. From the Vascular Plant Image Database
Picture of rosette, grown as an ornamental with Dewdrops in Holland.
Verbascum virgatum
Biennial
Grows to 4 feet tall. Flowers in yellow or white. From Europe. Naturalized in North America.
Verbascum Wiedemannianum
Biennial
This one is so woolly it looks like a spider has been trying to make webs all over. Technically, this is known as 'cobwebbing'. Grows to 4 feet tall. Flowers in blue or purplish-lilac. The sexual filaments are purple-woolly. From Asia Minor.
Great Mullein Links
BOTANICAL on Suite101.com - Mullein
Karyn Siegel-Maier has shared with us lots of information on using Verbascum thapsus medicinally and historically, as well as supplied a very good recipe for mullein cough drops.
Verbascum thapsus facts
From the Enclyclopedia of Biological Life, Box 711, Vernon, B.C., V1T 6M6.
Plant Profile - Verbascum: Pure Indulgence
Some interesting history on Helen Johnson, tips for propagating the sterile Verbascum hybrids, and an overview of some of the different species, hybrids and forms available. From Oregon Live.
Flora of Europe
A few of the pictures linked to in this article are from the Flora of Europe, a photographic herbarium put together by Aart Voswinkel of the Netherlands.
Have a gardening question? Ask away on one of the Urban Gardening Discussions, create your own discussion area there, or use our Internal Search Engine to find anything you want to on Suite101.
Urban Gardening is just one of the 30+ different gardening topics you can visit here on Suite 101, covering everything from Abelias to Zygosepalum.
Suite 101 offers you the best of the World Wide Web, with great articles and links to the very best sites for over 300 different topics in 17 categories. Check it out!