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Verbascum pulverulentum; photograph (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-09-12

Verbascum pulverulentum Vill.

Hoary Mullein; Broad-leaf mullein

Scrophulariaceae · Great Britain, Belgium +15

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Verbascum pulverulentum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph author not stated, no rights reservedVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph (c) David Pereira, some rights reserved (CC BY)Verbascum pulverulentum, photograph (c) David Pereira, some rights reserved (CC BY)Verbascum pulverulentum, photograph (c) Teo Albert, some rights reserved (CC BY)Verbascum pulverulentum, photograph (c) Nico Hernandez, some rights reserved (CC BY) 100 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
-7.0°C
Record low -16.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
25°C
Jul at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
840mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
8–39DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Verbascum pulverulentum, the hoary mullein, is a species of flowering plant in the family Scrophulariaceae. It is native to western, central and southern Europe north to England (where its main range is in East Anglia) and southern Wales. It has been introduced to Austria, Madeira, and Washington state in the US. It is a specialist on coastal shingle, and so is preadapted to human-influenced habitats such as old quarries and gravel pits, road verges, railway embankments, and similar disturbed stony ground.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Verbascum pulverulentum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Verbascum

Verbascum is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein, in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe, Africa and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Verbascum", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (611 mm of 843 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and April to June. Mean temperature moves 16.2 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: March to July and October to December.

Rain

843 mm in the median year at the habitat, 611 mm of it September to January and April to June. Wettest month October at 88 mm, driest month February at 56 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 651 mm to 1,253 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 840 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 843 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 8 to 39 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 5, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is -7.0 °C, the absolute minimum -16.5 °C, 2,547 frost nights in 44 years, 57.9 a year (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.4 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 0.7 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range -2.1 °C to 3.0 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 24.5 °C in July (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: -7.0 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 57 to 66% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -46 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Verbascum pulverulentum through the yearWarmest month July, mean daily high 25 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 0.7 °C; 843 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°frost32.4° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER-16.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200mm rainDLI 8–39RH 57–66%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 1476 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C7 / 5–108 / 6–1111 / 9–1414 / 12–1618 / 15–2122 / 19–2525 / 22–2824 / 21–2821 / 18–2416 / 14–1910 / 9–137 / 5–10
Night °C1 / -2–31 / -2–33 / 0–55 / 3–79 / 7–1112 / 10–1415 / 13–1715 / 13–1712 / 10–149 / 6–114 / 2–62 / -1–4
Rain mm70 / 50–11356 / 41–9158 / 44–8973 / 51–11482 / 60–11863 / 39–9257 / 18–7961 / 23–8370 / 47–11988 / 67–15182 / 59–14683 / 58–142
DLI9 / 6–1415 / 12–2023 / 19–2931 / 28–3535 / 33–4139 / 36–4639 / 35–4734 / 30–4226 / 22–3217 / 13–2110 / 8–158 / 5–11
RH %65 / 60–6863 / 59–6560 / 56–6360 / 57–6260 / 56–6259 / 53–6157 / 52–6158 / 52–6160 / 55–6263 / 59–6565 / 61–6866 / 61–69
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 1476 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (1658 records in those cells; 3 more cells hold records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cells are left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 836:3666 (48.175, 3.325). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum -16.5 °C, 1st-percentile night -7.0 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.4 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 1476 distinct grid cells holding 1658 of the 1661 in-range records (3 further cells with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 836:3666 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 48.00_3.125, lapse-corrected -46 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 105 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeGreat Britain, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland, Corse, France, Portugal, Sardegna, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Yugoslavia · introduced: Austria, Madeira, Washington · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker45.531, 3.545 · in the densest population, 876 records (49% of those in range)
Kew's description“biennial” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 1781 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 1658 of them in the land cells it reads, of 1661 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 1403 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 83 km away. 8 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 120 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 1781 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Verbascum pulverulentum, photograph 1did not loadVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph 2did not loadVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph 3did not loadVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph 4did not loadVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph 5did not loadVerbascum pulverulentum, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: author not stated, no rights reserved · CC0 (2); (c) David Pereira, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Teo Albert, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nico Hernandez, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Herniaria hirsuta Herniaria hirsuta Hairy rupturewort Photo: CC BY, LjažLathyrus hirsutus Lathyrus hirsutus Hairy vetchling Photo: CC BY, saltyhikerLegousia hybrida Legousia hybrida Venus's-looking-glass Photo: CC BY, Antoine ThivolleLathyrus aphaca Lathyrus aphaca Yellow vetchling Photo: CC BY, Orzigul AnvarovaSabulina tenuifolia Sabulina tenuifolia Fine-leaved Sandwort Photo: CC BY, DDutreyCapsella rubella Capsella rubella Pink shepherd's-purse Photo: CC0, author not stated

Other Verbascum 35 in the reference

Verbascum acaule Scrophulariaceae Verbascum arcturus Verbascum arcturus Bear's-tail mullein Photo: CC BY, Daniel CahenVerbascum barnadesii Verbascum barnadesii Scrophulariaceae Photo: CC BY, Duarte FradeVerbascum blattaria Verbascum blattaria Moth mullein Photo: CC BY, Paolo ZuccaVerbascum boerhavii Verbascum boerhavii Annual mullein Photo: CC BY, YokkiVerbascum bombyciferum Verbascum bombyciferum Broussa Mullein Photo: CC0, author not statedVerbascum chaixii Verbascum chaixii Nettle-leaved mullein Photo: CC BY, nevwrightVerbascum coromandelianum Verbascum coromandelianum Scrophulariaceae Photo: CC0, Vijay BarveVerbascum creticum Verbascum creticum Cretan Mullein Photo: CC0, author not statedVerbascum densiflorum Verbascum densiflorum Dense-flowered mullein Photo: CC BY, DDutrey Verbascum × divaricatum Scrophulariaceae Verbascum dumulosum Verbascum dumulosum Scrophulariaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, C T Johansson all 36 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Lychnitis pulverulenta; Thapsus floccosum; Thapsus pulverulentum; Verbascum acutifolium; Verbascum farinosum and 11 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Verbascum phlomoides Thuill. is an older name of this species, not Verbascum phlomoides, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Scrophulariaceae
Described by
Vill.
Native to
Great Britain, Belgium, Germany +14
Wild records
1781 in range · 1403 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 24 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (16 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium, 6 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 48.00_3.125, lapse-corrected -46 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 209 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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