Mullein

Verbascum thapsus

Also: Great mullein, Candlewick, Hag's taper, Verbascum densiflorum

CoolingDryingTonifying

A velvet-leaved lung herb for dry, stuck coughs.

A biennial that spends its first year as a rosette of thick, woolly leaves and its second sending up a flower spike taller than a person. Mullein leaf moistens and relaxes the lungs so stuck mucus comes up, and the flower oil soothes aching ears.

Energetics: Cooling, drying, tonifying; moistening and relaxing to the lungs
Taste: Salty, mucilaginous
Family: Scrophulariaceae (figwort family)
Parts used: Leaves, flowers, root

Medicinal uses 3

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Traditional useLab and mechanism studiesClinical studies

Dry coughTLC
Moistens and relaxes dry, hacking, unproductive coughs so they bring mucus up.
Wet cough & congestionTLC
Clears baked-in congestion, including smoker's cough.
EaracheTLC
Flower-infused oil soothes ear pain.

Preparations

A well-strained leaf tea and flower oil for ears.

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Cautions

Strain the tea carefully; leaf hairs irritate the throat.
Use ear oil only when the eardrum is intact. Ear pain with fever or discharge, or in a baby, needs a clinician.

Pregnancy & breastfeeding

PregnancyTea amounts

Commonly used for coughs and ear pain in pregnancy and considered safe at tea doses.

BreastfeedingTea amounts

Safe at tea doses; ear oil is topical.

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Folklore

Stalks dipped in tallow burned as torches, which gave mullein the names hag's taper and candlewick plant. Country girls rubbed the leaves on their cheeks for color, a trick called Quaker rouge, and travelers lined their shoes with them for warmth. The seeds were scattered on ponds to stun fish.

How to grow

Sow seed on the surface in fall, in full sun and poor, dry, disturbed soil. The first year brings a rosette, the second a flower spike up to 6 feet, and then the plant dies and self-sows.

In the wild

Roadsides, gravel bars, burns, and clearings. Native to Europe and Asia, it has spread across North America and much of the world.

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