Participant Info

Species

Verbascum thapsus

Family

Scrophulariaceae

CommonName

common mullein, great mullein

Presence

YES

Status

exotic, noxious

EarliestDate

1930

LatestDate

2022

Ecosystem

basin, shrubland, foothill, montane, ruderal, urban

Geobotanical

Garitas, SSanjuans, UBasin

Counties

Alamosa, Conejos, Hinsdale, Mineral, Rio Grande, Saguache

Passes

WildlifePreserves

Baca, Great Sand Dunes

Other Localities

Alamosa (town), La Botica, Del Norte

PhotoRecords

YES Rich Haswell: Rio Grande Co, Del Norte yard 24 July 2010; old gravel pit NE of Del Norte 26 Aug 2020

Comments

Verbascum thapsus, the Watershed's only mullein, is an exotic that has naturalized in meadows and beside woods throughout the Watershed, as well as occupied a wide variety of disturbed ground such as ditches and lawns. It is much more prevalent than herbarium records indicate. The Del Norte occurrence, for instance, would add Rio Grande to Watershed counties in Ackerfield (2022) and BONAP (2022). The species is on Colorado's C list of "noxious weeds." It follows the Rio Grande drainage through New Mexico and on down beyond the Big Bend country of Texas (to Kinney Co).

Annotation