Purple Mullein

Appearance

"Verbascum Phoeniceum" is a dicot plant that begins with rosette growth in late spring and into summer. The initial lower rosette shows whorled basal leaves with pinnate venation and as growth continues, simple leaves grow in an alternating fashion on the stem. The shape of the leaf blades of the "V. phoeniceum" can be elliptical, ovate, chordate or lanceolate depending on the environment in which it grows in. Five petaled flowers appear when in bloom, where it grows as an inflorescence with multiple flowers on a spike starting with the first blooms on the bottom of the spike and newer ones upwards of the spike. "V. Phoeniceum" exhibits pentamerous growth of perianth and corolla that is characteristic of the dicotyledonus mulleins.

The flowers can be deep purple in color to pink and white. The variation in shades for "V. phoeniceum" makes it ideal for hybridization with other mulleins. Hybrids may have flower colors ranging from white to various shades of pink and plum; as well as the advantage of a longer growing season due to its perennial nature. In the center of each flower are fuzzy golden-yellow stamens. The height of "v. Phoeniceum" is shorter than most mulleins but can range in-between 0.9m – 1.2m in an herbaceous habit.

Naming

There are two recognized subspecies of "V. phoeniceum":
⤷ "Verbascum phoeniceum" subsp. "Flavidum"
⤷ "Verbascum phoeniceum" subsp. "phoeniceum"

Distribution

"Verbascum phoeniceum" is found in southern Europe, northern Africa and central Asia. It thrives in dry soils with full sunlight. Although they can tolerate moderate shade, they are unable to withstand soggy soils thereby requiring efficient water drainage. It can be found growing wild on hillsides, disturbed sites and woodlands in their native habitats. "V. phoeniceum" has been brought over to the US among other temperate regions and cultivated as an ornamental garden plant. It thrives in USDA’s hardiness zones 4-8, with possible natural occurrence in New York and Ohio where the winter temperatures is also required for seed germination after dormancy.

Habitat

"V. phoeniceum" is pollinated by hoverflies and bees although it is suspected that moths also take part in pollinating the mulleins. The flowers expel a fragrance early in the day believed to attract moths and close up midday.

In a study by Petkovic et al. 2004, "V. phoeniceum" were planted on three different substratum soil types, serpentine, andesite and limestone. Results showed that plant morphology and anatomy varies with soil type. Plants grown on serpentine substratum produced smaller stem leaves with the blades chordate shaped and dentate margins; plants grown on limestone substratum featured lanceolate stem leaves with entire margins and plants grown on andesite substratum featured even narrower chordate stem leaves with dentate margins. Serpentine soil produces an overall decrease in average values of the "V. phoeniceum" while limestone yields the highest values with andesite an intermediate, these values includes plant height, inflorescent length, flower numbers, and pedicel length.

The first observation of self-incompatibility was made and published by Kolreuter on "V. phoeniceum". Unlike other mulleins "V. thapsus" and "V. lychnitis" which are able to self-pollinate, "V. phoeniceum" pollinated with their own pollen do not set seed but are cross-fertile; this had been attributed to the allotetraploidy of the plant. Despite perfect flowers, individual "V. phoeniceum" flowers are shown to display either extreme male or extreme female characteristics, yielding more successful pollinations when used as such. V. phoeniceum have 2n= 32, 36 chromosomes.

"V. phoeniceum" plants will self-seed, dropping their seed pods freely where the plants occur to join the soil seed bank.
Horticulturalists growing "V. phoeniceum" often will deadhead flowers to keep the plant in continuous bloom throughout its short-perennial lifespan.

Uses

There aren't as many known uses for "Verbascum Phoeniceum" compared to other mulleins, however in a study by Tatli et al. 2006, the mentholic extracts taking from the leaves and flowers of V. Phoeniceum and other verbascum plants showed strong antimicrobial activity.