Contractions. - Verbas. Vrb.

Verbascum Thapsus. Nat. ord., Scrophulariaceae.

Synonym. - Thapsus barbatus.

Fig. - Flora Hom., pl. 66.

Common Mullein, Long Taper. For. names: German, Konigskerze Wellkraut; French, Molene, Bouillon blanc; Italian, Verbasco; Spanish, Gordolobo.

Habitat. - Roadsides and waste places all over Europe and temperate Asia; also in North America.

Flowering time. - Summer.

Parts employed. - The fresh herb.

Characters. - A stout erect biennial, simple or branched, 2 to 4 feet high, clothed with soft woolly hairs. Leaves oblong, pointed, slightly toothed, narrowed at the base into 2 wings running a long way down the stem; lower ones often stalked. Flowers in a dense, woolly, terminal spike. Corolla yellow, 3/4 inch in diameter, slightly concave; 3 of the filaments are covered with yellowish woolly hairs, the other 2 longer and nearly smooth.

Time for collecting. - At the beginning of flowering.

Preparation. - Tincture, corresponding in alcoholic strength with proof spirit.

Reference to Horn. Proving. - R. A. M. L., vi.

Proper forms for dispensing.- φ and lx, Tincture only. 1 and upwards, Tincture, Pilules, or Globules.