Common Mullein, Verbascum thapsus, is a medicinal plant asthma suffers may want to know. Though it sounds strange the leaves were dried, ground, and smoked to relieve asthma attacks. Beyond that this plant has been used for a variety of ailments from colds and coughs to rashes and wounds. The plant has such a long history that the Romans used to dip the flower spikes in grease and use them as torches. The leaves are still used to this day as wicks.

Keep your eyes and ears open and your powder dry!

Common Mullein Sources:

Audubon Guides Box Set – Birds, Tree, Wildflowers & Mammals. Computer Software.Green Mountain Digital. Version: 2.3. Web. Jul 10, 2014.

Culpeper, M.D., Nicholas. Culpeper Color Herbal. Ed. David Potterton. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., 1983. Print. pg. 130

Felter, Harvey Wickes, M.D., and John Uri Lloyd, Phr. M., Ph. D. King’s American Dispensatory, Vol. 2. Cincinnati: The Ohio Valley Company, 1905. pg. 2054-2055

Foster, Steven and James A. Duke. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs of Eastern and Central North America. 2nd. ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2000. Print. pg. 130-131

Hamel, Paul B. and Mary U. Chiltoskey. Cherokee Plants and Their Uses- A 400 Year History. North Carolina: Herald Publishing. 1975. Print. pg. 45

Herrick, James William. Iroquois Medical Botany. Ph.D. Thesis, New York: State University of New York, Albany 1977. Print. pg. 215-216

Moerman Daniel E., Native American Ethnobotany, Portland: Timber Press. 1998. Print. pg. 590-591

Newcomb, Lawrence. Newcomb’s Wildflower Guide. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977. Print. pg. 188-189

Peterson, Lee Allen. The Peterson Field Guide Series; A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants; Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977. Print. pg. 72-73

United States Department of Agriculture. Natural Resources Conservation Services. Web.