Mullein (Verbascum thapsus)
Plant with Soft, Fuzzy Leaves Treats Coughs and Sinus Congestion
Mullein is an easy plant to identify, with its towering flower stalks and thick leaves like flannel that stay green even in winter.
- Growth Habits
It’s one of the first plants to appear on bulldozed soil or otherwise disturbed ground, able to survive on minimal nutrition in hot, dry, rocky conditions. Mullein (Latin name: Verbascum thapsus) is a biennial, a plant with a two-year life cycle. It begins as a ground-hugging basal rosette of thick, fuzzy, oval, toothless leaves, soft to the touch. These leaves do not die back in winter but remain green even under the snow.
Midway through the second year of its life, the plant sends up a flower stalk, usually less than an inch in diameter, but strong enough to grow, in some cases, over ten feet high. The stalk bears sturdy, bright yellow, five-petalled flowers, closely packed along the upper part of the stem. In autumn they are followed by seeds held in woody, brown, five-part pods. The plant then dies, leaving behind the tall, thin stalks to distribute seeds that will start the next generation.
- Medicinal Uses
Leaves taken from the basal rosettes can be dried for tea or steeped in brandy or vodka to make tincture, useful for treating dry coughs or coughs that deeply wrack the entire body. The tea and tincture have also been used to treat asthma. Some people have found that inhaling the smoke from burning dried mullein leaves can halt an asthmatic attack, causing a relaxation of the respiratory muscles whose spasms prevent breathing during an attack.
The flowers, infused with garlic in olive oil, are employed as ear drops to relieve pain and heal middle ear infections.
Mullein leaf steam inhalation is helpful in cases of sinus congestion. Although dried leaves can be used, fresh ones are more effective, so the winter persistence of the plant is of great service. Pick a smallish leaf near the center of the rosette, tear it up, and simmer it in a covered pot for a few minutes. Bring to a full boil, remove it from the heat, and inhale the steam with a towel over the head. This treatment breaks up congestion, while soothing and toning the mucous membranes.
- Other Practical Uses
Mullein is native to Europe, where the dried flower stalks were commonly coated with tallow and used as torches. When the European settlers brought the plant to the Americas, Indians quickly adopted it for medicinal use and other practical applications. The dried, stripped stalks make excellent hand drill spindles for friction fire-making. The dried, crumbled leaves may be mixed with other herbs for smoking, either as a tobacco substitute, an addition to tobacco in ceremony, or a healing smoke for respiratory problems.
For more information on mullein, see Tom Brown's Guide to Wild Edible and Medicinal Plants (New York: Berkley Books), 1985.
