Verbascum lychnitisL.

white mullein

WFO wfo-0000420406 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. a Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-05-28 / obs. 201506476
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Josep Gesti
fig. b Josep Gesti, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 200044952
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Petra Caltová
fig. c Petra Caltová, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 199592995
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Силаева Татьяна Борисовна
fig. d Силаева Татьяна Борисовна, CC0 1.0 / obs. 197896739
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Силаева Татьяна Борисовна
fig. e Силаева Татьяна Борисовна, CC0 1.0 / obs. 197308720
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Татьяна Максимова
fig. f Татьяна Максимова, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 195992798
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. g Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 193459118
Verbascum lychnitis, photographed by Stephen James McWilliam
fig. h Stephen James McWilliam, CC0 1.0 / obs. 159444539

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 29 botanical countries

Regions where Verbascum lychnitis is native: Morocco, Altay, Kazakhstan, North Caucasus, Transcaucasus, West Siberia, Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Corse, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Krym, Netherlands, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine MoroccoAltayKazakhstanNorth CaucasusTranscaucasusWest SiberiaAlbaniaAustriaBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCorseCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyKrymNetherlandsNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwitzerlandUkraine
Native distribution of Verbascum lychnitis, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Corse COR
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Krym KRY
Netherlands NET
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Kazakhstan KAZ
North Caucasus NCS
Transcaucasus TCS
West Siberia WSB
Morocco MOR AFRICA

Not drawn on the map: Great Britain. We hold no public-domain boundary for this region, so it is listed rather than guessed at.

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 36 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Blattaria alba Medik.
  • Lychnitis alba Fourr.
  • Lychnitis lutea Fourr.
  • Thapsus lychnitis (L.) Raf.
  • Verbascum album Mill.
  • Verbascum biebersteinii Besser
  • Verbascum bracteatum J.Presl & C.Presl
  • Verbascum firmum Dulac
  • Verbascum leucanthemum Dufour ex Gren. & Godr.
  • Verbascum lychnitideum St.-Lag.
  • Verbascum lychnitis f. album House
  • Verbascum lychnitis f. cuspidata H.Lindb. ex Cajander
  • Verbascum lychnitis f. rochelianum Soó
  • Verbascum lychnitis subvar. albiflorum Rouy
  • Verbascum lychnitis subvar. aureiflorum Rouy
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. album Mérat
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. album (Mill.) Hartm.
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. foliosum Vayr.
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. giganteum Maire
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. gymnostemon Franch.
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. longebracteatum Rouy
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. longibracteatum Rouy
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. luteum Hartm.
  • Verbascum lychnitis var. moenchii (Schultz) Boenn.

and 12 more.

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.