Verbascum phoeniceum

Purple Mullein ( Verbascum phoeniceum )

The Violet mullein ( Verbascum phoeniceum ) or Phoenician mullein or Purple Mullein is a plant of the genus mullein ( Verbascum ).

Description

The Violet Mullein is (rarely to 100) cm reached a two - or perennial, herbaceous plant, the plant height of 30 to 80. The upright stem is hairy fluffy down, upper ward densely glandular and Rippig edged. The egg-shaped, upper side shiny and almost bare leaves are predominantly arranged in a basal rosette and are the ground on tight, under hand, they are pubescent; its edge is notched irregularly sinuate.

The inflorescence is a raceme with long -stemmed flowers which have a remarkable regular - pentagonal shape in vernation. The 30 mm wide flowers are usually dark purple, her five Kronblattzipfel are spread out and slightly wavy. The stamens are orange at the base, the short corolla tube is usually crowded yellow-orange. In the middle and towards the tip, the stamens are enveloped by a dense and long purple or whitish pubescence. The anthers are black - purple, after it is opened but covered with bright yellow pollen. The purple pen with the green scar is slightly shorter than the stamens and protrudes downward from the stamen circle. The plants bloom in May and June.

Come between the dominant purple - flowering plants occasionally white or (more rarely ) in front of pink flowering forms. The type enjoys increasing popularity as an ornamental plant and is offered in several varieties and color varieties. In gardens such forms are very common in mixed assortments. Also hybrids with other Verbascum species are known.

Habitat requirements and distribution

The Violet mullein preferred base- rich, sandy or loamy, rather nutrient-poor soils. They are found in dry grassland or in the hem of dry forests.

The home of the plant is located in southeastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean and the Near East.

Deposits in Germany, where it is ( for example, in Saxony- Anhalt) especially common in the eastern states, may go back to earlier Verwilderungen of garden culture. Therefore, the north-west frontier of the natural range can hardly be determined. Other authors Verbascum phoeniceum contrast, in parts of Germany as a native species, whereby in this area, only the subspecies ssp. phoeniceum was represented. Here, too, is pointed to the additional presence synanthroper stocks.

In Austria the kind in the Pannonian area is native as südsibirisch - Pontic- Pannonian Florenelement, brought in otherwise only by grass seed, and occurs in the provinces of Burgenland, Lower Austria and Vienna, and fickle in Upper Austria in the hill and altitude level rarely. The species is considered as endangered in Austria.

Pictures

Habit

Inflorescence

Basic rosette of leaves Violet mullein