Settle Wildflowers - Day 69 - Yellow 17: Verbascum

A friend MK sent me a picture taken on 22 June of Great Mullein - Verbascum thapsus that had appeared in her garden in Hellifield.

This does pop up in wasteland places and gardens - but it is many years since I remember seeing it.

Great Mullein in Hellifield

In conversation on ACE another friend invited me to see the Verbascum growing in her garden at Sheepleas. I grateful took up the invitation and enjoyed seeing the lichens in her garden too, and other splendid garden plants (though very few weeds) . This is right in the centre of Settle high up but hidden behind the Water Cooling Tower House.

I can't just call it "Garden Mullein" - There are at least 6 Mulleins in my flower book.

It has a lot of flowering branches instead of being just one spike

Hoary Mullein Verbascum pulverulentum

Close examination

Close examination reveals it has anther stalks *filaments) with white (not purple hairs) - so far like V thapsus- 

If the two lower filaments have much fewer hairs that the other three of the five is comes out as V thapsus. If  they all have the same amount od hairs it comes out as V pulverulentum.

Well I'm not 100 percent sure from the above picture - but let's say they are all equally hairy.

So it is Hoary Mullein.- a native of East Anglia,  

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Finally - 
Then lo and behold I discovered Great Mullein  V thapsus on the back track from the Hoffman Kiln to Langcliffe beside the Settle-Carlisle Railway, not 200 yards as the blue-tit flies behind my house.

I am open to constructive dialogue about the identification of the above species.

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Reflection: 

This brings the total number of species recorded on this "Settle Wildflowers" blog to 200.

It has taken two months from June 21 (150 species) to Aug 21 (200 species) to cover 50 species. Whereas it took two and a half months to cover the first 150 species.

Not sure if I will get up to 300. Maybe I should aim for something more attainable.. like 250 or 222. Especially with competing interests such as VC65 visits, Lichen recording and maybe Malham visits.

 

Still we shall see.

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