06/06/2026
Mullein wraps up this week's w**ds. It is a biennial plant, meaning that it takes 2 years to finish it growing season. The Puritans and European settlers intentionally brought Mullein seeds to the American Colonies. By the mid 1700's, it was widely cultivated in Virginia for its medicinal and piscicide properties. Piscicide is a "fish poison". The plant's chemical properties stunned fish without allowing them to be toxic for human consumption.
Along with settlers using Mullein seeds and leaves, Indigenous groups did as well. With its historical nickname being the " Candlewick Plant", it's stalks were dried as lamp wicks and then dipped into tallow to create torches. Another nickname was "Lungwort" and that allowed it to be identified in its herbal remedy form. It's dried leaves and flowers would be utilized into teas, syrups, and poultices to treat coughs, bronchitis, and asthma.
Since Mullein helped soothe and heal respiratory distress, it was also smoked.
Mullein thrives in disturbed open soils. Following man's movement through cleared forests, wagon trails, and abandoned farmlands it spread rapidly. By 1818, it was so widespread that Botanist Amos Easton mistook it for a native species. As Mullein spread, large infestations outcompeted native forage crops, eventually earning its reputation as a noxious w**d.
Have you seen Mullein growing along roadsides?
It is popular again as a healing herb, have you used its medicinal properties?
