Verbascum nigrumL.

Dark Mulleinblack mulleindark mullein

WFO wfo-0000420517 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Pavel Kacl
fig. a Pavel Kacl, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-06-11 / obs. 205531738
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Силаева Татьяна Борисовна
fig. b Силаева Татьяна Борисовна, CC0 1.0 / obs. 158233261
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Daria
fig. c Daria, CC0 1.0 / obs. 156279387
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by E. A.
fig. d E. A., CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155898750
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by bogsuckers
fig. e bogsuckers, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 155415320
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Dmitriy Bochkov
fig. f Dmitriy Bochkov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 162965762
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Eleftherios Katsillis
fig. g Eleftherios Katsillis, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 152406305
Verbascum nigrum, photographed by Yurii Basov
fig. h Yurii Basov, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 150847607

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 33 botanical countries

Regions where Verbascum nigrum is native: Altay, Krasnoyarsk, West Siberia, Albania, Austria, Baleares, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Russia, Czechia-Slovakia, Denmark, East European Russia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, North European Russia, Northwest European Russia, Norway, NW. Balkan Pen., Poland, Romania, South European Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine AltayKrasnoyarskWest SiberiaAlbaniaAustriaBaltic StatesBelarusBelgiumBulgariaCentral European RussiaCzechia-SlovakiaDenmarkEast European RussiaFinlandFranceGermanyGreeceHungaryItalyNetherlandsNorth European RussiaNorthwest European RussiaNorwayNW. Balkan Pen.PolandRomaniaSouth European RussiaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandUkraine Baleares
Native distribution of Verbascum nigrum, 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. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Albania ALB EUROPE
Austria AUT
Baleares BAL
Baltic States BLT
Belarus BLR
Belgium BGM
Bulgaria BUL
Central European Russia RUC
Czechia-Slovakia CZE
Denmark DEN
East European Russia RUE
Finland FIN
France FRA
Germany GER
Great Britain GRB
Greece GRC
Hungary HUN
Italy ITA
Netherlands NET
North European Russia RUN
Northwest European Russia RUW
Norway NOR
NW. Balkan Pen. YUG
Poland POL
Romania ROM
South European Russia RUS
Spain SPA
Sweden SWE
Switzerland SWI
Ukraine UKR
Altay ALT ASIA-TEMPERATE
Krasnoyarsk KRA
West Siberia WSB

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 43 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.

  • Lychnitis nigra (L.) Fourr.
  • Thapsus nigrum (L.) Raf.
  • Verbascum abietinum Borbás
  • Verbascum alopecurus Thuill.
  • Verbascum barthii Schur ex Nyman
  • Verbascum borisii-regis Murb.
  • Verbascum bornmuelleri Velen.
  • Verbascum chaixii var. urticifolium (Lam.) Rouy
  • Verbascum cordifolium Stokes
  • Verbascum dentatum Lapeyr.
  • Verbascum gallicum Willd.
  • Verbascum grisebachianum Borbás ex Nyman
  • Verbascum humile Bernh. ex Steud.
  • Verbascum hybridum Lej.
  • Verbascum lyratum Pourr. ex Nyman
  • Verbascum macrophyllum K.Koch
  • Verbascum minutiflorum Stef.
  • Verbascum monspessulanum Pers.
  • Verbascum nigrum f. leucerion Grütter
  • Verbascum nigrum subsp. alopecuros (Thuill.) Schübl. & G.Martens
  • Verbascum nigrum var. alopecurus (Thuill.) Dumort.
  • Verbascum nigrum var. amplectens Hartm.
  • Verbascum nigrum var. cuspidatum Krok
  • Verbascum nigrum var. glabrescens Hartm.

and 19 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.