Greetings Paragons of CS, Mullein, what, where and how.
Mullein, also mullen, (Old French, moleine). Any of a genus (Verbascum) of herbs of the figwort family, including the wooly-leaved Great Mullein (V.thapsus) and the Moth Mullein (V.blattaria. Common Names; Moth Mullein, White Mullein, Verbascum Flowers, Woollen Blanket Herb, Flannel Flower, Cow`s Lungwart, Velvet Leaf. Folk names; Aaron`s Rod, Blanket Leaf, Candlewick Plant, Clot, Doffle, Felt-wart, Flannel Plant, Graveyard Dust, Hag`s Tapers, Foxglove, Old Man`s Fennel, Peters Staff, Shepherd`s Club, Shepherd`s Herb, Torches, Velvetback, Velvet Plant. Features: The genus comprises some three hundred species native to Europe, North Africa, and western and central Asia. Some species have escaped and are common in the United States, growing in recent clearings, sparsely inhabited fields, along roadsides, waste places and in fields throughout the USA and southern Canada. Likes poor soils. They vary greatly in size and form, but most have a columnar aspect, are hairy or woolly, and have yellow (mostly), red, purplish, or brownish red flowers arranged in dense terminal spikes or in narrow panicles. Height is 1 to 8 ft, with 6 ft as ave. when in flower. Leaf part can be 2 to 3 ft high, the flower stem is half the overall height. The best known in America is the common Verbascum thapsus, marked by a stout, erect, unbranched, woolly stem, with basal leaves narrowing at the base into wings that pass down the stem. This characteristic of V.thapsus enables it to be distinguished from the various other Mulleins. The dense spikes of small yellow flowers bloom in July and August; the fruit is a capsule or pod. The flowers and leaves have a faint, rather pleasant odor and a somewhat bitterish, albuminous taste. Keeps well if properly dried and stored for winter use. It is a biennial plant with a rosette of large, woolly leaves in the first year and a tall flowering stem in the second year. Stem leaves are woolly with many star-shaped hairs and their bases run down the stem. The flowering stem is crowned with yellow flowers, opening a few at a time. Fruits are woolly capsules. Medicinal parts: Dried flowers or leaves, and flowering tops (Culpepper used the root also), other mulleins can be used the same way, like Moth Mullein and Orange Mullein, both naturalized European species. Solvent is boiling water. Bodily Influence: Demulcent, diuretic, anodyne, anti-spasmodic, astringent, pectoral, emollient, expectorant. Uses: An infusion of dried flowers is used to soothe asthma, coughs, bronchitis, whooping cough and tonsilitis. It is also used for treating intestinal cramps and diarrhea, and for bathing wounds and skin inflammations. Mullein oil is used for treating earache. The dried leaves were smoked by Native Americans to relieve lung congestion. Space age herbalists use it for coughs, colds,pectoral complaints, including hemorrhages from the lungs, shortness of breath, and pulmonary complaints. Mullein has been considered a treatment for hemorrhoids for several hundred years and is still used for that purpose, both internally and as a fomentation. A decoction made with equal parts of horsemint (Monarda punctata) and mullein (V.thapsus) and taken three times a day is excellent for kidney diseases. Traditionally used as a leaf and flower tea expectorant, demulcent, anti-spasmodic, diuretic, for chest colds, asthma, bronchitis, coughs, kidney infections; leaves poulticed for ulcers, tumors, piles; flowers soaked in olive or mineral oil used as earache drops. Laeves high in mucilage, soothing to inflamed mucus membranes; experimentally, strongly anti-inflammatory. Asians Indians used the stalk for cramps, fevers, and migraine. The seed is a narcotic fish poison. WARNING: The leaves contain rotenone and coumarin. Hairs may irritate skin. Bless you Bob Lee -- oozing on the muggy shore of the gulf coast [email protected] -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
