Mullein

I expected to find very little information about this plant. Boy, was I wrong! This herb has no less than 40 common names a well documented history going all the way back 2000 years.

Mullein, Verbascum thapsus, is a common plant on the ranch. I saw it everywhere when we first arrived in early July but by the first of September the drought had taken its toll and it had shriveled up to practically nothing. Recent rains have since revived the Mullein and it is now growing again... like a weed.

Mullein is a biennial plant: The first year the leaves form a large basal rosette, with large thick velvety, gray-green leaves which are furry on both sides. The second year it sends up a huge flower spike that can be up to 8-ft tall. The sturdy spike is studded with small yellow flowers. Each plant produces 100,000-240,000 seeds and the seeds maintain their germinative power for up to a hundred years!

Mullein is not native to North America (it originated in Eurasia) but appears to have been brought here by the Puritans. It was a common garden plant in Europe, prized for its many medicinal uses. The Greek physician Dioscorides was one of the first to recommend it as a cure for lung disease. Roman women (and later Quaker women) rubbed it on their cheeks to give themselves a rosy glow. It has been used as hair rinse for blonds as far back the Middle Ages.

There are many accounts of Mullein being used to ward off evil spirits. It is said to be the herb Ulysses took with him to deal with the treacherous sorcerer Circe. Witches supposedly used lamps and candles of Mullein in their incantations which gave rise to one of it's many common names: Hag's Taper.

Here's a photo of the dried flower spike (click to see a larger version):


Prior to the introduction of cotton, dried folded Mullein leaves were used for lamp wicks because it ignites at the slightest spark, thus the name Candlewick plant. Mullein was known in Greek as Flego and Fluma, meaning “to set on fire”.

As previously noted Mullein has many medicinal uses for both human and livestock, just a few of which I will mention here.

Coles, in 1657, in Adam in Eden, says, “Husbandmen of Kent do give it their cattle against the cough of the lungs, and I, therefore, mention it because cattle are also in some sort to be provided for in their diseases.”

Mullein tea is known as one of the safest and most effective herbal cough remedies. It is an expectorant and tonic for the lungs, mucus membranes, and glands. It is good for all sorts of respiratory problems such as colds, emphysema, asthma, hay fever, and whooping cough. (Be careful to strain out the tiny hairs or they will get stuck in the throat and worsen your cough!) Indians and other ancient people smoked dried Mullein to relieve asthma and bronchitis.

Poultices of heated Mullein leaves were used by the ancient Romans, sixteenth century British, Delaware Indians, and Southerners to lessen the inflammation and pain of arthritis, earaches, sprains, and hemorrhoids.

Tinctures were (and still are) used for diarrhea and migraine headaches. Mullein root was used to make necklaces worn by teething babies.

I came across several references to Mullein leaves being used as toilet “paper” and being grown beside outhouses and privies.

Edna St. Vincent Millay (Pulitzer Prize winning American poet) wrote about Mullein in her poem Pastoral:

...Oh, grey hill,
Where the grazing herd
Licks the purple blossom,
Crops the spiky weed!
Oh, stony pasture,
Where the tall mullein
Stands up so sturdy
On its little seed!

Here are some of the common names for Mullein:
Aaron's Rod, Adam's Flannel, Beggar's Blanket, Beggar's Stalk, Blanket Herb, Bullock's Lungwort, Bunny's Ears, Candlewick Plant, Clot, Clown's Lungwort, Common Mullein, Cuddy's Lungs, Duffle, Feltwort, Flannel Mullein, Flannel Plant, Flannel-leaf, Fluffweed, Golden Rod, Hag's Taper, Hedge Taper, Hare's Beard, Jacob's Staff, Jupiter's Staff, Molene, Mullein Dock, Old Man's Flannel, Our Lady's Candle, Our Lady's Flannel, St. Peter's Staff, Rag Paper, Shepherd's Clubs, Shepherd's Staff, Torches, Velvet Dock, Velvet Plant, White Mullein, Wild Ice Leaf, Woollen, Woolly Mullin