Benefits of Herbal Medicine: Mullein

Because I have been seeing a vast deal of ready to bloom Mullein alongside highways lately, I thought I’d write a little something about this fascinating plant to add to our benefits of herbal medicine series. It’s almost a certainty you have seen this plant before, many times no doubt, but you may never have known what it was nor that it has been revered for its medicinal properties for thousands of years.

Benefits of Herbal Medicine: Mullein

At first sight you’d think Mullein—botanically known as Verbascum Thapsus– is just a weed and who could blame you? There is nothing particularly striking about this plant, not its wooly, pale gray-green, 6-15 inch long foliage which forms a rosette of sorts when it emerges in the spring, nor its small, rather insignificant closely packed, yellow single stalk of flowers. One can say, however, that it does have a considerable height about it which does make it stick out–it can top out at six- seven feet high—but truly, there are prettier plants and few people would stop to take a second look.

Mullein flower

 

Back in the day—that is to say ancient times in Greece—someone did take a second look at Mullein and they liked what they found. They discovered Mullein was a good treatment for diarrhea, for treating tuberculosis and Malandre—a condition in which boils show up on the neck of horses.

Mullein works as an anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and astringent. An infusion of mullein leaves, flowers and/or roots can help soothe coughs, bronchitis, asthma, sore throat, ease toothache pain, to treat ear infections, to ease the discomfort of hemorrhoids, in treating urinary tract infections, and as I stated before, in treating diarrhea.

Mullein rosette in early spring

Mullein does have a bitter taste for those taking it internally, so it is recommended to use it either with the addition of nice tasting herbs or mixed with honey or other sweeteners. 1-2 teaspoons of dried Mullein per cup of water should be used to make an infusion and taken 2-3 times a day for coughs and/or sore throats. A stronger infusion once cooled can be used as a gargle for sore throats and toothaches or for a hemorrhoid soothing compress. If made into a tincture ½ -1 teaspoons up to 3 times per day is sufficient for soothing coughs.

The seeds of mullein are reportedly toxic, but every other part of this plant can be harvested and used. Mullein is a biennial and as such each plant lives only up to two years. The first year only the rosette of wooly leaves with show–just one third of the leaves should be harvested at this point– but the second year the tall stalk protruding from the center produces the flowers which in turn develop into seeds. These seeds are easy to harvest for propagating in any garden soil and in full sun. Mullein is very hardy, although I have yet to find out exactly in which zones it will grow. Some call this plant invasive, but that is easily cured with a quick snip of the flower stalk so seeds won’t develop.

While it may not be the prettiest plant to have in an herb garden, Mullein does have its curative uses and makes a nice addition to our benefits of herbal medicine series.

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Glory Lennonlearned about the benefits of medicinal plants from her parents, who often expounded on the wonderful, almost magical properties of various plants within the garden. The art of homemade medicinal preparations is something she knows firsthand. You can find more on medicinal herbs and other plants at Glory’s Garden.