VERBASCUM SINUATUM

Family and Genus:- See- SCROPHULARIACEAE

Common Names:- Wavy-leaved mullein

Homotypic Synonyms:- None

Meaning:- Verbascum (L) A name used by the Roman naturalist and philosopher

Pliny, a reference to the bearded stamens.

Sinuatum (L) With a wavy margin, winding, waved.

General description:- Biennial, shortly greyish- or yellowish-tomentose

throughout when young,

Stems:-

1) Usually simple, erect, 30-90 cm.

Leaves:-

1) Basal, 15-35 x 6-15 cm, oblong-spathulate, lobed or pinnatifid, usually undulate;

2) Upper, ovate-lanceolate, entire, sometimes decurrent.

Flowers:-

1) Borne in clusters on a twiggy, widely branching inflorescence.

2) Bracts, 3-8 mm, cordate-deltate, cuspidate.

3) Pedicels, 2-5 mm.

4) Calyx, 2-4 mm;

a) lobes, lanceolate.

5) Corolla, 15-30 mm diam. Yellow,

6) Stamens, 5;

a) anthers, all reniform.

b) filament-hairs, violet.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, subglobose, glabrescent.

Key features:-

1) Calyx, 2-4 mm.

2) Indumentum, usually hard, yellowish-grey.

3) Filament hairs, violet.

Click here for a glossary of terms used

Habitat:- Roadside gravel, fallow fields, dry grassland. 0-800(-1200) m.

Distribution:- Throughout Greece, but rare in the interior N. - Widespread in the

Mediterranean region, extending to the Canary Islands in the west and Afghanistan

and the Transcaspian area in the east. Widespread and common on Crete.

Flowering time:- May-July, occasionally later.

Photos by:- Steve Lenton