Erect leafy green stems topped by spike of yellow flowers. Obtained common name of moth mullein because hairy stamen filaments resemble a moth's antennae and flattened flowers on stem resemble a resting moth.
Leafy stemmed biennial; plants without hairs or with simple, gland-tipped hairs; flowers in an elongated, terminal seedhead; petals yellow or white with a purple base, flowers 1 per node, parts in 5; flower stems longer than the seed capsules.
Habitat
Fields, roadsides and other disturbed areas.
Flower Characteristics
Flowers are yellow but sometimes white with 5 rounded, slightly unequal, flat petals to 1-1/4 inches wide, clustered along slender, erect spike in raceme pattern. Anthers are reddish-orange with purplish hairs on stamen filaments.
Leaf and Stem Characteristics
Basal leaves in a rosette. Leaves are elliptic or oblong to ovate, margins more or less doubly toothed, up to 5 inches long, decreasing in length toward flowers.
Fruit and Seed Characteristics
Fruit is rounded capsule with many seeds.
Seeds dark gray and very small, less than 1/16 inch.