The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
n. Any of various Eurasian plants of the genus Verbascum, especially V. thapsus, a tall plant having closely clustered yellow flowers and leaves covered with dense woolly down. Also called flannel leaf, velvet plant.
n. Any of several European and Asian plants, of the genus Verbascum, that have yellow flowers and downy leaves; the velvet plant
the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
n. Any plant of the genus Verbascum. They are tall herbs having coarse leaves, and large flowers in dense spikes. The common species, with densely woolly leaves, is Verbascum Thapsus.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
n. any of various plants of the genus Verbascum having large usually woolly leaves and terminal spikes of yellow or white or purplish flowers
Word Usage
"There is a kind of melancholy symbolism in this flower as it withdraws from the light, which is the complete opposite of bright yellow candles of great mullein burning in the sun."