Flora of North America species comparison

Subspecies 3 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Verbascum bombyciferum is naturalized in Sonoma County, escaped from ornamental plantings in 1976 at a residence on the Pepperwood Preserve (F. Hrusa et al. 2002). Photos of the population (http://www.calflora.org) show plants (intermixed with typical V. thapsus) with a dense, persistent, bright white vestiture, spikes unbranched or proximally few-branched and 1–2 m, the floral clusters thick and somewhat remotely arranged, yellow corollas with yellowish to yellowish white filament hairs, and broadly elliptic, basally attenuate leaves densely and persistently tomentose on both surfaces. Internet photos confirm the identification as V. bombyciferum and indicate that the Calflora photos show plants just beginning to flower, as the plants potentially elongate proximally and the spikes may develop lateral branches, although the central one usually remains dominant.

Verbascum bombyciferum of Sonoma County has been identified previously (F. Hrusa et al. 2002) as V. olympicum Boissier, and that name has correspondingly been registered in other literature. Verbascum bombyciferum (as well as V. olympicum) is endemic in native range to Mount Olympus (now known as Uludağ) in northwestern Turkey.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)