Verbascum pulverulentum

{{Short description|Species of plant in the genus Verbascum}}

{{Speciesbox

|image=Verbascum pulverulentum 4 RF.jpg

|image_caption=Plant in flower in Italy

|image2=Verbascum pulverulentum 3 RF.jpg

|image2_caption=Stem and leaves in Germany, showing the dense pale hairs

|genus=Verbascum

|species=pulverulentum

|authority=Vill.

|synonyms_ref=

|synonyms={{Collapsible list|

• Lychnitis pulverulenta {{small|(Vill.) Fourr.}}
• Thapsus floccosum {{small|(Waldst. & Kit.) Raf.}}
• Thapsus pulverulentum {{small|(Vill.) Raf.}}
• Verbascum acutifolium {{small|Halácsy}}
• Verbascum farinosum {{small|Pourr. ex Willk. & Lange}}
• Verbascum floccosum {{small|Waldst. & Kit.}}
• Verbascum haemorrhoidale {{small|Aiton}}
• Verbascum heterophyllum {{small|Moretti}}
• Verbascum laxiflorum {{small|C.Presl}}
• Verbascum pulvinatum {{small|Thuill.}}

}}}}

Verbascum pulverulentum, the hoary mullein,{{cite web |title=Hoary Mullein Verbascum pulverulentum Vill. |work=BSBI Online Plant Atlas 2020 |editor1=P. A. Stroh |editor2=T. A. Humphrey |editor3=R. J. Burkmar |editor4=O. L. Pescott |editor5=D. B. Roy |editor6=K. J. Walker |publisher=Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland |date=2020 |url=https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas/2cd4p9h.9c6 |access-date=5 September 2024 }} is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae.{{cite web |url=https://pfaf.org/user/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Verbascum+pulverulentum |title=Verbascum pulverulentum - Vill. |author= |date=2021 |website=pfaf.org |publisher=Plants For A Future |access-date=15 October 2021 }} It is native to western, central and southern Europe north to England (where its main range is in East Anglia) and southern Wales. It has been introduced to Austria, Madeira, and Washington state in the USA.{{cite web |url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:770074-1 |title=Verbascum pulverulentum Vill. |author= |website=Plants of the World Online |publisher=Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |access-date=15 October 2021 }}{{cite web |title=Verbascum pulverulentum hoary mullein |url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/18804/i-verbascum-pulverulentum-i/details |date=2021 |publisher=The Royal Horticultural Society |access-date=15 October 2021 }} It is a specialist on coastal shingle, and so is preadapted to human-influenced habitats such as old quarries and gravel pits, road verges, railway embankments, and similar disturbed stony ground.{{cite web |url=https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/verbascum-pulverulentum |title=Verbascum pulverulentum |author= |date=2021 |website=brc.ac.uk/plantatlas |publisher=Online Atlas of the British and Irish flora |access-date=15 October 2021 |archive-date=28 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211028170216/https://www.brc.ac.uk/plantatlas/plant/verbascum-pulverulentum |url-status=bot: unknown }}

It is a stout biennial or monocarpic perennial herb growing up to 1.5 m tall, producing flowers and seeds only once, during its second or a later year. The stems and leaves are densely woolly with pale grey to glaucous pubescence. The flowers are yellow, 18–25 mm diameter, with 5 orange stamens, all the stamen stems with dense white hairs.Streeter D, Hart-Davies C, Hardcastle A, Cole F, Harper L. 2009. Collins Flower Guide. Harper Collins {{ISBN|9-78-000718389-0}}Blamey, M. & Grey-Wilson, C. (1989). Flora of Britain and Northern Europe. {{ISBN|0-340-40170-2}} It can best be distinguished from the similar great mullein (V. thapsus) in all five stamens having dense white hairs on the stem; in V. thapsus, the lower two of the five stamens are hairless or only thinly hairy.

It is the main food plant for the moth Nothris verbascella (Norfolk snout).{{cite web |title=35.015 Norfolk Snout Nothris verbascella ([Denis & Schiffermüller], 1775) |url=https://www.britishandirishmoths.co.uk/accounts/35.015_nothris_verbascella.htm |website=British and Irish Moths |access-date=5 September 2024}}