Wikimedia Commons
Scrophulariaceae
Olympic Mullein
Verbascum olympicum
Towering ambition and golden radiance.
- Family
- Scrophulariaceae
- Genus
- Verbascum
- Native to
- Turkey, Greece
- Bloom season
- Summer
- Type
- biennial to short-lived perennial
- Height
- 5-8 ft
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- well-drained, poor to average, rocky
- Water
- low; very drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 5-9
- Lifespan
- biennial
Did you know
- The massive candelabra-like flower stalks can produce over 100 side branches laden with golden blooms.
- Named after Mount Olympus in Turkey (Uludag), not the Greek mountain, though both have mullein species.
- The woolly silver-grey basal rosette of leaves can span 3 feet across before the flower stalk rockets up in year two.
- Roman soldiers dipped dried mullein stalks in tallow to use as torches, earning the plant the name 'candlewick.'
- Like all mulleins, the fuzzy leaves were historically placed inside shoes for insulation during cold weather.
Color meanings
0
courage
1
ambition
2
protection