It is a biennial [1] or short-lived perennial commonly found in disturbed areas.[6]
Verbascum lychnitis can be distinguished from other species in the genus Verbascum by the sessile and non-clasping stem leaves with upper and lower surfaces differing in color; small, flowers that are separated (not as tightly bunched together as other mulleins); and the somewhat long flower stalks. [2][5] As with other Mulleins the leaves are clothed with dendritic hairs. In V. lychnitis, the hairs are very short, less than 0.2 mm, so as to appear stellate. The lower surface is much hairier than the upper. [2][7]
Cullen, James (2011). "Verbascum". In James Cullen; Sabina Knees (eds.). Boraginaceae to Compositae. European Garden Flora. Vol. V (2 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 180. ISBN978-0-521-76164-2.
T.G.Tutin; V. H. Heywood; N. A. Burges; D. M. Moore; D. H. Valentine; S. M. Walters; D. A. Webb, eds. (1972). "Verbascum". Diapensiaceae to Myoporaceae. Flora Europea. Vol. 3 (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-08489-5.
Ellenberg, Heinz; Leutscher, Christoph (2010). Vegetation Mitteleuropas mit den Alpen (6 ed.). Ulmer Verlag UTB. p. 832. ISBN978-3-8252-8104-5.
Leslie, Alan (2019). Flora of Cambridgeshire. Peterborough, UK: Royal Horticultural Society. ISBN978-1-907057-99-1.
Prof. Dr.Eckehart J. Jaeger; Dr. Klaus Werner, eds. (2005). Gefasspflanze: Kritischer Band. Rothmaler: Exkursionsflora von Deutschland. Vol. 4 (10 ed.). Spektrum Verlag. p. 567. ISBN3-8274-1496-2.