Verbascum nigrum

The Black Mullein, in Latin Verbascum nigrum, is native to France and Western Europe and is one of the most beautiful species of wild mulleins due to its magnificent floral spikes laden with bright yellow flowers and purple stamens. It is a short-lived but robust perennial plant that is generous and easy to grow, flowering abundantly throughout the summer. Charming and with a strong presence, it is also a friend to our native fauna and a somewhat forgotten medicinal plant. Although sometimes biennial, it readily self-seeds in the sun and ordinary soil. It grows quickly and upright, adding lightness and verticality to country or romantic flowerbeds.

Black Mullein belongs to the Scrophulariaceae family. It is a Eurasian species found in fallow fields and fallow land, on the edge of forests, and along railways, usually on limestone terrain. Perfectly hardy, it thrives in slightly damp or dry soils that are not too compact or suffocating. Its name, Black Mullein, comes from the dark colour of the petioles that bear its basal leaves.

This plant will reach approximately 1m (3ft) in height when flowering in ordinary or even poor soil, but sometimes more if the growing conditions are very favourable, such as in rich and moist soil. Its growth is rapid, and its final size can be achieved within a few months. This mullein first develops a rosette of large, slightly hairy and wavy basal leaves of a dark green colour. Long, branched and leafy floral stems rise from the rosette in the second year. The flowering period is long, from June to September depending on the climate. The floral stems are angular, thick, very rigid, and slightly branched at the base, resembling candelabras. On the narrow spike, open flowers, flower buds, and fruits coexist. Each flower is a corolla with 5 bright yellow petals (occasionally white), enhanced by plumose purple stamens. The flowers open in groups along the spike. After pollination by pollinating insects, capsules containing a large number of fine seeds are formed. Black Mullein develops a powerful and deep taproot that allows it to adapt to drought but does not like to be disturbed: plants grown from direct sowing are more long-lived and more beautiful.

As a plant for open spaces, Verbascum nigrum is a boon for natural gardens. Not demanding, the plant will be much more decorative if it benefits from good garden soil and occasional watering in very dry weather. The slightly wild areas of the garden will be transformed by mulleins, whether botanical or hybrids. Accompany the mulleins with foxgloves, Fraxinella, purple toadflax, wild chicory, Buenos Aires verbena, scabious centaury, nigella, or beautiful purple fennel. They are also good companions for roses, as well as foxgloves. It is preferable to surround them with perennials or shrubs such as catmints, hyssops, or veronicas, for example, to fill the space when they are not in bloom.

A medicinal plant: Black Mullein (and the Great Mullein Verbascum thapsus) is used in the composition of the 4-flower herbal tea, which is used to soothe coughs. The flowers should be harvested in the morning and dried quickly in the air and in the dark.