12 Best Mullein Look Alikes

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Here are the best Mullein Look Alikes that look strikingly similar to the plant in question or even better that that!

Mullein Look Alikes

Mullein, with its towering yellow flowers and soft, velvety leaves, has a unique appearance often leads to confusion with similar-looking plants. Well, don’t worry! We are here to end all that!

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Best Mullein Look Alikes

1. African Lettuce

Mullein Look Alikes 1

Botanical Name: Lactuca taraxacifolia

African Lettuce is small with green leaves, just like Mullein, but tinier. It’s a little Mullein for gardens that you can eat.

2. African Violet

Best Mullein Look Alikes

Botanical Name: Saintpaulia

Not exactly a mullein look alike, but it is often confused before it flowers. Why? Because it has similar, thick, velvety leaves and purple flowers.

3. Common Comfrey

Mullein Look Alikes plant
wikipedia

Botanical Name: Symphytum Officinale

You might confuse a young Comfrey plant for Mullein as the two look alike. A new Comfrey plant has a similar rosette of leaves.

Note: You should grow it carefully as it is highly toxic. It is often found near riverbanks. 

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4. Evening Primrose

Best Mullein Look Alikes in rock garden
shutterstock/Mariola Anna S

Botanical Name: Oenothera biennis

The Common Mullein and the Evening Primrose can be confused as the flowers of the two plants are almost the same. Both have beautiful, yellow, fuzzy blooms.

5. Foxglove

Mullein Look Alikes 5

Botanical Name: Digitalis Purpurea

In the first year, Foxglove plants grow a rosette of leaves close to the ground, which are very similar to the leaves of Mullein.

6. Hoary Vervain

Top Mullein Replica Plants
michiganwildflowerfarm

Botanical Name: Verbena stricta

These mullein look alikes have similar leaves to the plant in question, albeit, close together. The only thing that sets it apart are its purple flowers and slightly thinner stems.

7. Lamb’s Ear

Mullein Look Alikes 7
wikipedia

Botanical Name: Stachys byzantine

Lamb’s Ears have soft, silver leaves and are Common Mullein look alikes. They grow in a rosette-like fashion, too. But their lavender flowers set them apart.

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8. Water Lettuce

The Most Similar Plants to Mullein
The Spruce / Adrienne Legault

Botanical Name: Pistia stratiotes

The fizzy texture of Mullein leaves is also found in the leaves of the Water Lettuce. The difference? Well, it is an aquatic plant and only grows in water.

9. Corn Lily

The Most Similar Plants to Mullein in garden

Botanical Name: Veratrum californicum

Corn Lily is an attractive plant found in open meadows. You might confuse the two as it has big leaves that grow in clusters near wetlands, similar to Mullein.

10. Burdock

beautiful The Most Similar Plants to Mullein

Botanical Name: Arctium minus

Burdock look mullein look alikes as both plants form basal rosettes of leaves close to the ground in their first growth year.

11. Wavy Leaved Mullein

Mullein Look Alikes 11
wildflowersprovence

Botanical Name: Verbascum sinuatum

Wavy-leaved Mullein has leaves like Mullein but with wavy edges, giving this Mullein look alike its name.

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12. White Mullein

The Most Similar Plants to Mullein
flickr

Botanical Name: Verbascum lychnitis

White Mullein has white flowers, a bit different from Mullein’s yellow ones. Other than that, the plants look exactly the same.

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