Plant · P-117

Common Mullein

Verbascum thapsus

Common mullein is a biennial that shows up on disturbed, compacted or recently burned ground, spending its first year as a low fuzzy rosette before sending up a tall flowering stalk in its second. Its felted leaves and flowers have a long history as a cough remedy, loosening phlegm and easing bronchitis. The plant also carries rotenone, the compound once used to poison fish, so it should be kept well away from ponds and water; cutting the flower stalk before it sets seed is the only management it needs, since missing that once commits the ground to a fresh crop of it for a generation.