Status: Native
Synonyms:
None
Verbascum thapsus is a tall unmistakeable plant. The leaves are mostly basal, and can reach very large size. They are woolly. The inflorescence is a tall crowded spike of yellow flowers. Verbascum thapsus is a lower to middle elevation plant that grows on dry soil and on roadsides. The branching of the multicellular leaf cilia is quite interesting. The uppermost portion is stellate. Below the top, where there are cell junctions, there can be either another area of stellate branching or simple branching. So there are often areas of stellate branching stacked upon each other on the same main cilial stalk.
Please click on an image for a larger file.
verbascum_thapsus, photo Russ Kleinman, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, May 19, 2007
Verbascum thapsus, flowering stem, photo Russ Kleinman, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, May 30, 2007
Verbascum thapsus, detail of flower, photo Russ Kleinman, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, Oct. 30, 2008
Verbascum thapsus, 1x macro of leaf, photo Russ Kleinman, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, Nov. 27, 2008
Verbascum thapsus, 4x macro of leaf showing complex branching cilia (some with stacked stellate pattern), photo Russ Kleinman, Pinos Altos Range, Pinos Altos, Nov. 27, 2008
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