What does common mullein look like? Mullein can be used as a supplement, but it’s very commonly consumed as a tea , brewed from parts of the plant with hot water to extract some of its nutrients and benefits.
Mullein can be used as a supplement, but it’s very commonly consumed as a tea , brewed from parts of the plant with hot water to extract some of its nutrients and benefits.
The most sustainable way to forage for and harvest mullein is to find the fuzzy leaves in the spring time and harvest them before the flower stalk starts to shoot up when the weather gets very warm . While you can still harvest the leaves from the stalk once it matures, it’s best to use tender, young leaves.
Common mullein (Verbascum thapsus L.) is a medicinal plant readily found in roadsides, meadows and pasture lands and has been used to treat pulmonary problems, inflammatory diseases, asthma, spasmodic coughs, diarrhoea and migraine headaches .
Mullein is a soft (almost velvet-like) biennial that can grow very tall . This dicotyledonous plant produces a rosette of leaves in its first year of growth. The second year plant normally produces a single unbranched stem. The tall pole-like stem ends at a dense spike of yellow flowers.
Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina) grows as a “foliage clump” and produces pinkish-purple flowers. While the leaves are quite similar, mullein grows much taller and lamb’s ear leaves are softer. The most obvious, easiest identification is in the color of the blooms .
Mullein is an easy-to-grow plant, often seen growing in fields and ditches. Because of its ease to grow and spread uncontrollably it is considered an invasive weed in many states, including Colorado .
This tall beauty is Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus . Not only is this plant beautiful it has many useful functions. One of them, now more beneficial, given our current circumstances is its use as a natural toilet paper. Giving this plant the nickname “Cowboy Toilet Paper”.
Sometimes called verbascum, this group of plants is made up of many different varieties. Most types of mullein are perennials, coming back year-after-year , some plants are biennials and come back for a couple of years, and a few mulleins are annuals.
Mullein tea is made from the leaves of the mullein plant . Although research in humans is limited, test-tube studies suggest that it may relieve certain respiratory conditions, such as asthma, and even fight viruses and bacteria. This flavorful tea is easy to make at home and associated with very few side effects.
Summer, or whenever the plant is blooming is the time to harvest mullein flowers. The first year leaves are often used, but can be picked and used throughout most of the growing stage, including when flowering, though be sure to check out the note about drying larger leaves below.
Mullein is a plant used to make medicine . Some people take mullein by mouth for breathing conditions such as cough or asthma, pneumonia, colds, and sore throat. But there is limited scientific research to support these and other uses. In manufacturing, mullein is used as a flavoring ingredient in alcoholic beverages.
If you have fresh leaves and flowers, lay them on a cookie sheet and cover them with cheesecloth. Be sure they are not exposed to moisture for 2-3 days until they are completely dry; then, you are ready to brew some tea. Making tea with fresh mullein leaves is also possible, but will require more steeping time .
Dasistoma macrophylla, commonly known as mullein foxglove , is a species of flowering plant in the broomrape family. It is monotypic, with no other species in the genus Dasistoma.
This easy-care perennial has velvety soft, wooly evergreen leaves that are silver to gray-green in color . The foliage is also similar in shape to that of a real lamb’s ears, hence its name. If left to bloom in summer, lamb’s ear will produce spikes of pink to purple colored flowers too.
Lamb’s Ears (Stachys byzantina) is a wonderful evergreen perennial, mostly grown for its rich rosettes of showy, velvety, silvery tongue-shaped leaves, resembling lamb’s ears and bringing interest to the border. Pink-purple flower spikes appear in late spring or early summer.
Mullein is a good beginner forager plant. It is an easy plant to find, easy to identify and the seeds are easy to collect. However, it is not eaten by all that many animals—some birds and chipmunks eat the seeds. Reportedly elk and white-tailed deer nibble the greens, somewhat.
Chickadees, tanagers, bluebirds, and finches (just to name a few), repeatedly turn to mullein for its abundant seeds and/or the rich insect life that congregates on the plant. Reptiles and amphibians also benefit from this bounty, as well as the shelter the large leaves and resulting microclimate provide .
Gather large fresh mullein leaves anytime during the growing season to make fresh poultices to treat joint pain or gout , as the Native Americans did. You may pick a large fresh leaf, when soft and green, to wrap around your foot to relieve foot fatigue, or to wrap-up green figs to promote ripening.
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