Verbascum thapsus

It produces a rosette of leaves in its first year of growth. The leaves are large, up to 50 cm long. On flowering plants, the leaves are alternately arranged up the stem. They are thick and decurrent, with much variation in leaf shape between the upper and lower leaves on the stem, ranging from oblong to oblanceolate. The second-year plants normally produce a single unbranched stem. The leaves are large, up to 20” (50 cm) long. The second-year plants normally produce a single unbranched stem, usually 3-6’ (1–2 m) tall. In the eastern part of its range in China, it is, however, only reported to grow up to 4.5’ (1.5 m) tall. The tall, pole-like stems end in a dense spike of flowers that can occupy up to half the stem length. Flowers have five stamen, a five-lobed calyx tube, and a five-petalled corolla, the latter bright yellow and an 0.5-1” (1.5–3 cm) wide. A given flower is open only for a single day, opening before dawn and closing in the afternoon. After flowering and seed release, the stem and fruits usually persist in winter, drying into dark brown, stiff structures of densely packed, ovoid-shaped, and dry seed capsules.